Prompted by the persistent precipitation of last winter, artist, communicator, life coach, writer, illustrator, and lover of all things Parisian Jill Butler has put together a unique art show titled My Paris Portfolio-Original Art, Design, and Product, which will open on Friday, Oct. 16, with a wine and cheese reception, from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Essex Art Association Gallery, at 10 North Main Street, in Essex.

As colorful and vibrant as her art, Butler is an upbeat individual who exudes an affinity for life, which she expresses through a variety of mediums. A self-taught artists, Butler said she pulls inspiration from life. She recalls a vivid dream of the Notre Dame cathedral (as seen from the back), perhaps inspired by the French language lessons she was made to take on weekends by her mother.

Later in life, when her father passed away, after she had been working in New York and had achieved the status of vice president in the home finishing industry, she had an epiphany of sorts. She left work and went to Paris.

“At the time I knew I was a good worker, and I knew how to work; what I didn’t know was how to live, so I went to Paris. The plan was to stay for three months. I stayed for two years,” said Butler with her signature laugh. “I have learned you have to seize the opportunity when life presents it and sometimes just move blindly forward.”

Butler’s apartment in Paris had a familiar view: the backside of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

During this time in Paris, Butler traveled to gallery after gallery, immersing herself in the art (she preferred galleries to museums because of their intimacy). During this artistic awakening, she took the good advice of her mother to buy postcards of the art she saw, instead of taking her own pictures, because the postcards were better quality. Thus her love of postcards and post offices was born.

Sharing her amour of postcards, cards, art, Paris, people, communication, collage, words, and more, Butler’s show will be an amalgamation.

“I love to connect with people, that’s my deal. I love words, so I love creating card art and celebrating life,” said Butler. “I always say you can look back, just don’t stare, and that is a little of what this show is all about, looking back, leaping forward, and walking through life with my eyes wide open.”

There will be 30 original, cut paper illustrations and found object collages of Butler’s on display at the show, created from her 18 years in Paris and Normandy. It will also highlight Butler’s table top art products such as tidbit dishes, placemats, and napkins. Her famous Butler Birds—works of words and illustrations that came to her at a difficult time in her life when her brother was ill—will also be fluttering about on display.

At the front and center of the show will be Butler’s newest affinity, the CARDbutler, a wire, powder-coated card display unit modeled after a French 1950s postcard frame on which Butler has put her own characteristic stamp. Each purchase of the CARDbutler comes with a sampler of five dozen of Butler’s newly designed card collection.

“Sometimes these things get lost in our busy lives and this is a perfect way to display a whole bunch of them at once, in a small place,” said Butler, who suggests that the CARDbutler is a perfect gift for grandparents to keep pictures and cards from their grandchildren, and also a wonderful way to exhibit special holiday cards. Butler will have several of the CARDButlers, which are manufactured in Connecticut, on display at her show, filled with her own art and postcards, as well as displays made by other groups in the community.

“This show is a celebration of me following my bliss, listening to the universe when I needed to. My art is formed by my curiosity and my spirit has taken me places I needed to go. I want to inspire others to do the same,” said Butler.

Butler invites everyone to come to her opening reception on Oct. 16. A $10 donation is suggested, with door proceeds and a percentage of all sales benefiting the York Butler Fund for Creative Arts at the Community Foundation of Middlesex County (which Butler started in memory of her brother) and the Essex Auxiliary of the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut. On Saturday, Oct. 17 the show will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a special SCORE small business mentor talk at 10 a.m. On Sunday, Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. a reception will be held with coffee.

For more information, visit www.jillbutler.com or call 860526-5155.