Basketry: Rhythm, Renewal & Reinvention at the Ruthin Craft Centre

‘The exhibition Basketry: Rhythm, Renewal & Reinvention is a visual slice across contemporary UK basket making. There are some 35 maker’s work spilling over all three galleries at Ruthin Craft Centre. The exhibition shows what is being made today – and by whom – across basketry’s beautiful variety of shapes, materials and weaves.’ Jane Audas, August 2021

This new exhibition focused on basketry features work by QEST Scholar Mary Butcher and QEST D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Scholar Annemarie O’Sullivan. Annemarie has contributed two works – a heather screen titled ‘Heide’ (from the Fresian word for heather) and a basket is called ‘Cisean Fraoigh’ (heather basket in Irish).

She comments, “I’ve been interested in working with heather for the last few years. I love its wildness. No two stems are ever the same. It was a material used in particular in Orkney and the west coast of Ireland. When I first was researching heather baskets in Orkney I was told that nobody had used this material for a hundred years or so. It made me really excited to try to process it and find out how I could make it work. So much of this process is about harvesting the right material and seasoning it just enough.”    

QEST Scholar Mary Butcher worked as a zoologist before turning to basketry, and her works in the show aim to draw attention to the plight of the oceans. They feature objects similar to those she saw on quaysides in her childhood, along with floats, ropes and nets.  

The exhibition is curated by Gregory Parsons and the exhibitors are Lisa Atkin, Ewen Balfour, Rachel Bower, Hilary Burns, Mary Butcher, Mandy Coates, Mary Crabb, Colette Davies, Alison Dickens, Ecolistic Artworks: Tina Cunningham, Rosie Farey, Kevin Gauld, Josey Goodin, Charlie Groves, Dalila Hamiche, Tim Johnson, Geraldine Jones, Owen Jones, Annette Mills, Sue Morgan, Annemarie O’Sullivan, Sarah Paramor, Polly Pollock, Clare Revera, Pip Rice, Patrizia Sascour, Judy Simmonds, Lorna Singleton, Rachael South, Lousie Tucker, Lois Walpole, Lucy Williams, John Williamson, Willow with Roots: Jenny Crisp & Isabelle Wilkes

Alongside the exhibition, there will be a series of events including Dr Stephanie Bunn’s Forces in Translation project which looks at basketry, social anthropology and mathematics, and the group will be in residence at Ruthin for several days in October. There will also be an area in Gallery 2 focusing on several of the Heritage Crafts Association’s endangered and critically endangered baskets. 

25 September 2021 – 9 January 2022 at the Ruthin Craft Centre. More details here.

Photo credits: Jonathan Bassett & Ollie Harvey