Anthony M Butcher Scholarship Fund

In celebration and memory of our son and artist Anthony Butcher, who passed away at age 25 on July 3, 2016, we have established the Anthony Michael Butcher HEARTS Scholarship (Helping Exceptional Artists Reach 4 The Stars ) to assist future artists in attending Gnomon School of Visual Effects and Design, a school that developed and supported Anthony’s artistry and creativity.

Anthony never fit into any box. Conformity was not in his vocabulary. He had an insatiable thirst for life and knowledge and experiences. And "That's not how it's done" was a laughable challenge.

Anyone who knew Anthony knew he never accepted anything at face value or because it was the Quid Pro Quo. Pushing people out of their comfort zone, always asking WHY?. That was just breathing for him.

Traditional school was a challenge for him. He saw no value in repeating information back to a teacher as a sign of having learned anything. That simply wasn't how his mind worked. His grades suffered, we complained, etc. He aced all standardized tests and smoked the military ASVAB test, but his grades never reflected any of that. He read Stephen Hawking and textbooks for fun. He was so smart. The wheels were always spinning in there.

He tried traditional college, even the Art Institute in Portland. He just couldn't fit into their molds. Then he found Gnomon School of Visual Effects and Design in Hollywood, CA.

My first conversation with admissions at Gnomon made me nervous as a mother. I was told after the first year students are evaluated not based solely on skill mastery, but whether or not you were talented. Don't get me wrong, I have always thought Anthony was very talented. But I'm his mother and among my many treasures is his very first drawing from April 1991. His heart was set on going to this school. So we sent him to Hollywood to become a Visual Effects Artist.

He had finally found a whole school that thought like he did and helped him to develop as an artist. They put him on the right path to let that talented amazing brain of his focus. He learned so much during his years here.

While attending Gnomon, and just 23 years old, he went to the hospital for suspected mono complications. He collapsed while at the hospital from a 'cardiac event'. And over the course of the next two years Gnomon stood by him through numerous hospital stays, a mechanical heart, a heart transplant and rejection complications. They sent him care packages while he was recovering in the hospital, stayed in touch with him, and helped us with the loan paperwork and enrollment status. They went above and beyond. I will be forever grateful.

Anthony would be happy to know that we chose a scholarship to this school to honor his memory. We plan to award one scholarship a year to a student who needs assistance with tuition, books, or supplies and hope to relieve their financial worries so they may concentrate on developing their best artistic self.

Here are some links to his final project he was working on in New York

In this spot Anthony worked on the big explosion and tower destruction at the very end of the spot about 37 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk_q3Zv_5w8&feature=youtu.be

Anthony did the tower destruction and smoke on the right of screen about 5 seconds in.
Anthony also worked on the big tower explosion and destruction around 8-9 seconds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV7ee0Cyzwg