MARY BUTCHER
Mary Butcher trained with a traditional Basketmaker using willow and then rush, making functional items for local markets, but a Research Fellowship at Manchester Metropolitan University changed all that. Walking through the stimulating Embroidery Studio every day alerted Mary to a wealth of new possibilities with a wider range of materials. A solo shows at Hove Museum and Art Gallery in 1998 gave me to scope to begin her experimental journey. A request from Onno Boekhoudt, jeweler, to fill the Nationaal Vlechtmuseum in the Netherlands gave her a free hand. She used a range of plant materials for installations on a large scale, interweaving Cycad leaves, making small bags, and creating a series of unconventional drawings with a wide variety of materials. Further European and UK shows have followed, each allowing Mary to explore concerns with line and form, reflecting her interest in calligraphy and the nature of the materials themselves.
Mary has a strong interest in the transmission of her craft, teaching it widely both in the UK and internationally. Special projects have involved working with The Big Issue sellers in Manchester, with a group of school excluded, with both primary and secondary schools. Mary enjoys watching things form in the hands of others. At the Museum, this teaching will be based on objects from the collection so she will be browsing through the Galleries looking at form, colour, line, scale of object while thinking about how these can be translated into interesting basketry items for wider participation. The Jewellery, Architecture, and Metalwork Galleries have all sparked ideas.
She was recently asked to complete a special commission for Hampton Court Palace. This involved copying a pair of baskets held in the V&A textile collection, a fine skeined willow basket which was imported from Germany in the early 1700s. The commission was completed with German Basketmaker, Michael Thierschmann, with skills complementary to her own, who had the knowledge of the traditional German techniques needed to complete the work. The research, the detailed and looking at the original was of great interest, as was the process of construction and learning why it had been made the way it had. Mary hopes to extend this kind of research to baskets in the Asian Collection at the V&A and from other cultures which might be tucked away in the extensive Museum store.
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VARIGNIA MONTALBETTI
Chilean based in London,
passionate for crafts and handmade designs. Through the years these
interests led her learn and experiment with different techniques such
as mosaic, sewing, felting, collage and horsehair weaving. She is now
studying to become an art teacher and transmit these techniques and
passion of learning to other generations.
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JAVIERA NARANJO
Javiera Naranjo has collaborate with ChileMakers creating a step by step guide of the horse hair crafts. This guide not only explain the technique but also explore the history behind the ancient technique of the southern Chile and the social context that make it possible. Javiera is a curious sociologist which has the aim to develop a collection of guide books dedicated to various craft practices in Chile, with the intention to rescue the heritage through the promotion of its practice.