Rachel Evans is a basketmaker and willow artist, based at Froghall Wharf in the Old Ranger Station, sharing a workshop with her husband, Martin Evans of Churnet Woodland Crafts.
From 2009 - 2011 she studied part time as an apprentice with Adrian Charlton in Norfolk, she has recently been awarded a training bursary by the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers to study making at an advanced level.
She grows some of her own willow in Leek and cuts from other beds in Winkhill, Stanton and Denstone as well as using willow from traditional beds in Somerset.
She specialises in traditional English baskets, log baskets, shoppers, picnic baskets, hampers and made to measure kitchen baskets as well as producing more contemporary work for galleries and private clients. She has worked on commissions presented to the Queen and was part of a team making the Coronation Arches at Windsor Castle and recently for BBC Cardiff on a set for an huge alien nest!
Rachel delivers courses in basketmaking and willow sculpture all around the Midlands are as well as at the Village Hall in Foxt.
For more details and to book on a course you can contact Rachel from her website www.wheatcroftwillow.co.uk
