Gail Butt was born on May 19, 1924 in Zanesville, Ohio. He received his BS, BFA, and MA all from Ohio State University and was Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln until his retirement in 1990. Butt works in oil, encaustic, and watercolor and his pieces can be found in many private and public collections in Kansas City, Missouri, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Youngstown, Ohio.