ART & ABOUT | BUTTER AT SIX | MAKING MOVES WITH NEW ED AND YOUTH ART

Top Row: Cultural Impact Award was given to Lavett Ballard; work by Dwight White and Marryam Moma. Middle Row: Pigment’s Allison Casselberry and Patricia Everett with Norman Teague; Cow Horn Sculpture by Teague, Paul Bacardi Smith’s Watermelanin. Third row:  Chicago in Indy; Work by Lavett Ballard and Nyzere Dillon.

The 6th Annual BUTTER Fine Art Fair returned to Indianapolis Labor Day Weekend, continuing its evolution as one of the country’s most consequential artist-centered art fairs. Built on a radical but straightforward premise—artists receive 100 percent of proceeds from their art sales—BUTTER has created an alternative model for equity and economic sustainability in the contemporary art world.

This year’s fair held September 3–6 at The Stutz, featured the work of more than 50 contemporary artists representing the African diaspora and welcomed a new era of leadership under Deonna Craig, Director of BUTTER Fine Art Fair. Congratulations on a beautiful show to Alan and Mali Bacon.

Top Row: Work by Kevin West; Ella Ashwill and Mali Bacon; student artist Luke Johnson was awarded Best in Show for his work Doughboy. Middle Row: Marryam Moma, Work by Gary Gee, work by Michael Coppage. Bottom Row: work by Eric January, Nyzere Dillion, and shout out to AO in the Butter Store.

Perhaps most exciting is BUTTER’s expanded investment in the next generation. The 2026 edition launched Camp BUTTER, an educational initiative encompassing BUTTER Education Day, a professional development cohort and BUTTER BFA: New Voices in Contemporary Art, the fair’s first exhibition dedicated to Bachelor of Fine Arts students. Thirteen student artists were given the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work alongside established professionals.

Since its founding in 2021, BUTTER has welcomed more than 65,000 attendees and generated more than $1.5 million in artwork sales. At six years old, the fair is proving that supporting artists is not simply a philosophy—it can be a sustainable cultural model. Butter will return to La in February 2027.

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