Photographer Clyde Butcher wins National Medal of Arts

Venice-based photographer Clyde Butcher was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Joe Biden at a private White House ceremony on Oct. 21. 

Among those artists receiving awards along with Butcher were documentarian Ken Burns, actress Eva Longoria, musician and producer Missy Elliott, visual artist Carrie Mae Weems and filmmaker Steven Spielberg, to name a few.

The awards are given by the federal government and presented by the president to individuals or groups who are "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States."

A White House citation described Butcher as “a photographer focusing the lens on Mother Nature,” whose large-scale black-and-white images from the Rocky Mountains to the Everglades “inspire and challenge us to respect and defend our natural wonders.” 

A self-taught artist, Butcher has become one of America’s most recognized photographers, known for his commitment to preserving landscapes and natural beauty, particularly in Florida.

Butcher's daughter, Jackie Butcher-Obendorf, said that her father's newest book, "A Lifeworks in Photography," arrived the day before the family's trip to Washington, D.C., for the awards ceremony.

The Butchers presented President Biden with a copy of the book filled with more than 50 years of Butcher's work as well as his photograph of Butchers' Big Cypress Gallery in Ochopee.

Butcher-Obendorf said the news of the award was a break in a literal storm. "As Hurricane Milton approached, our entire family packed up and evacuated from Venice, heading south to our gallery in the Everglades, uncertain of what we’d come back to," she wrote in an email.

"Our hearts were heavy, bracing for the worst, wondering if we might lose everything to the storm. Then, right in the midst of that storm of worry, the White House called. They told us that Clyde had been awarded the National Medal of Arts and asked if we could attend the event — in less than two weeks! It was surreal, shifting from shock and worry to immense pride in an instant," she wrote.

It's been a year of extraordinary recognition for Butcher. In addition to the National Medal of Arts and the publication of "A Lifeworks in Photography," the octogenarian was recently the subject of an exhibition at Selby Gardens' Historic Spanish Point campus in Osprey.

That show featuring aluminum reproductions of Butcher's huge, black-and-white photographs of the Florida wilderness ran from December 2023 to August. It was called "Clyde Butcher: Nature Through the Lens."

Clyde and his wife, Niki, who is an accomplished photographer in her own right, will hold open houses to sign their work and books on Nov. 16 at their Venice Gallery & Studio on Warfield Avenue in Venice and on Dec. 11 at their Big Cypress Gallery.