50th Anniversary – Mary Butcher MBE and Tim Johnson in conversation

Mary Butcher, formerly a Zoologist whose graduate research focused on spider ecology, later trained traditionally with a basketmaker, Alwyne Hawkins, in Kent. She used willow and rush, our traditional materials, making functional items for local markets. A Research Fellowship at Manchester Metropolitan University and a Craft Residency at the V & A alerted Mary to a wealth of new creative possibilities with a wider range of materials and markets. She became a Crafts Skills Champion in 2013, an award for transmission of traditional skills, an activity she feels passionate about.

Mary is now an artist basketmaker using natural materials, as well as recycled plastics, wire, strings, cardboard strips, paper to make containers, willow drawings and sculptures in a wide variety of scales and forms. Her current preference is to use the plant materials so familiar from an early outdoor life, frequent use over years and from her garden. Discoveries are still hidden there.

Over the past 25 years artist and basketmaker Tim Johnson has explored the relationships of material, place, nature and culture. His diverse creative practice encompasses basketmaking and performance, photography and painting, sculpture and installation, textiles and costume, his work has been exhibited internationally.

He combines a deep respect for traditional basketmaking with his own innovations and enjoys using a wide variety of materials and techniques gleaned from his travels, research and his own creative practice.

Originally from Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, Tim has lived in various parts of England and Ireland and is currently based in the north east of Spain just outside Barcelona.