DANIEL BLUE: MEET NICK BUTLER >>>

This striking young gentleman is Nick Butler. Since he moved to Parkland two years ago he has been coming downtown to explore the offerings of a larger social community.

"I have dogs," he says in response to unaired inquiries about the choice to live in such a strange place outside of where he obviously wants to be. I guess they don't allow dogs in Tacoma anymore. I was unaware of this because I am a cat person.

Butler is an artist in the most technical sense of the word. His figurative work is breathtaking and sometimes even titillating. There are few artists circling downtown who understand the human form as well as this friendly chap.

Currently he is renting studio space around the corner from the Monsoon Room on South 11th and J Street. 

I met Butler outside of the UW Tacoma on my way to work one morning, he stopped me and asked me a lot of questions about the arts in Tacoma, and I learned that he had an obsession with the creation of comic books. The next time I ran into him was several months later in the form of his work, which hung for a long time at the One Heart Café on South Sixth and Fawcett.

Butler is a must see and must meet. The quality of his work is bested only by the sincerity of his smile.