Don Buttfield Award

The Don Buttfield Award, established in 1998, is given annually by the International Guild of Miniature Artisans to a member of the Guild in memory of Don Buttfield. The Award is given in recognition of a student or instructor whose contributions of time and talents toward the good of the Guild School and whose generosity of spirit reflects the values embodied by Don Buttfield. The recipient is someone who has shown the same unassuming qualities that Don Buttfield possessed in such a large measure and who shines, unselfishly, by sharing his or her talents and skills with others for the benefit of the Guild School.

In addition to being a brilliantly talented Fellow of the Guild, Don Buttfield was a longtime summer resident of Castine, and it was largely through his and his wife Nancy’s efforts that the Maine Maritime Academy became the home of the Guild School for the past twenty-five years.

The award recipient’s name is engraved on a plaque. At the opening ceremony at the Guild School in June, the recipient is announced and receives the Buttfield Award Rock, a very special rock brought from Castine and engraved with stars.

Past winners of the Don Buttfield Award are:

1998
Bill Burkey

1999
Sarah Salisbury

2000
George & Sally Hoffman

2001
Betty Burkey

2002
Jack Blackham

2003
Robert Freeman

2004
Marilynn Zenzola

2005
Julian and Ruth Biggers

2006
Annelle Ferguson

2007
Carol Hardy

2008
Pete Boorum

2009
Pat and Noel Thomas

2010
Richard Hardy

The Don Buttfield Committee 2011

• Bonnie Backe, Guild School Instructor
• Carey Buttfield, Family Member
• Barbara Davis, Guild School Director
• Richard Hardy, 2010 Don Buttfield Award Recipient
• Corey Zimmerman, Guild School Student

Bill Robertson,
2011 Recipient of the
Don Buttfield Award

Bill Robertson has been an instructor at the Guild School for seventeen years, teaching a range of projects and techniques in woodworking and metalworking to students of all levels. He is an extraordinary teacher; his classes always fill and he receives outstanding evaluations from his students. His success can be attributed to a number of his innate abilities beyond his artwork. He gives of himself one hundred percent. He sets his goals high and maintains his eye on results; never accepting less of himself or his students. He has the ability not only to vision the end product, but to also develop a well thought out plan to achieve these results. Another contributing factor to his success is his ability to build relationships with his students. He makes personal contact with each student prior to class; he follows through with any extra support or interests they express in these conversations; and he strategically designs his class procedures to account for their individual needs and desires.

In addition to teaching, Bill has contributed to the Guild School’s overall success by donating his time and talent in a number of ways. He is a standing member and leader of our Scholarship Committee. He has personally encouraged beginning artists to apply for a scholarship and, in general, promoted the scholarship program in the United States and particularly abroad. Many of the revisions and refinements to the program over the years are a direct result of his forward, continuous thinking about how to make it better. Bill often, personally, takes it upon himself to make contact and maintain support to new instructors at the school. He is also the auctioneer for our action held each year at the school to raise funds for the scholarship program, our tool supplies, and keeping the cost of tuition down for our students; in addition, he donates his own works of art to the auctions. Finally, Bill has always been generous and helpful in the Tool Pool.

Bill is brilliant and creative. He offers a unique perspective on issues and has contributed new ideas and solutions to enhance the operations and impact of the Guild School. One example comes to mind. In Japan there is a Japan Guild of Miniature Artisans, modeled after ours. Bill initiated a proposal with the President of the Japan Guild and myself to collaboratively provide funds for a Japanese student to be a Scholar in Residence at the Guild School. We had seven students attending from Japan that year. This past year we repeated the offer and had six additional students attend. The result was a win for all – good will between our organizations; giving credibility to the “international” aspect of our organization; expanding our mission of promoting fine miniature art; and simply, the excitement of exchanging our “world of miniatures” with students from another country.