Artist, educator, culture bearer and entrepreneur, Ivan Butcher II can be described as a work in progress. In retirement he is working in phases at building his art business – The Butcher Shop.
The shop will be a commission house for the creation and sale of art, crafts and art services. Butcher says in his butcher shop the art is “cut to your taste.”
“The students I had over the years would jokingly say they are going to art class in the Butcher Shop,” Butcher says.
More than 2,000 students passed through the doors of his classroom before he retired in 2000, he said.
The talented students he has had in class over decades are the people he will tap into for the services he will offer in his business.
“All businesses use artists’ services,” Butcher says. “And there is a need for jobs here.”
Butcher will act as an agent, creating jobs for the vast array of artisans on St. Croix. He says he would be an art contractor.
This would all be done at The Butcher Shop, the place to get all art needs from murals and custom furniture to audio and video production. There will be graphic design and book illustration and advertisements produced by locals.
He has worked with the V.I. Small Business Development Center and has come up with a plan that he is doing in phases.
First of all, he is marketing himself by blogging and writing letters to editors. He says at this time the pen is mightier than the brush. In the second phase, he expects to open a shop in Christiansted. And the third phase is creating an art factory where workers would be producing the goods and services.
Butcher was born in Harlem, N.Y., with West Indian roots on his father’s side. He recalls enjoying coloring books and drawing as a young child. He says he was good at math and science so he went to school for engineering at Nassau College in New York, ending up a fine arts degree.
He jokingly says he actually got his art education teaching first through third graders at Juanita Gardine Elementary school. He and his wife Terry Butcher moved to St. Croix in the late 1960s.
In his spare time he enjoys climbing and hiking and is very active in the St. Croix Hiking Association.
“I have so many ideas,” Butcher says. “I haven’t been stuck in a box.”
Further information about the art service possibilities can be obtained by calling 514-0756.
