None the less, it took a little time for John Butler to settle to his natural bent. Following his formal education in art and design, there was a travelling RSA scholarship to Canada and the USA. When it came to making a living, show business seemed to offer a likely anchorage for his incipient talents. Stage design was followed by scenery painting for live films and then by animated cartoons. He finally took a job as co-producer of the BBC's educational 'Merry Go Round' before being offered the Curatorship of the Municipal Art Gallery in Bideford, the Burton, forerunner of the present-day Museum and Art Gallery. It was a job that embraced his varied interests and passions, and enabled him to come to terms with a creative life of his own. He claims that he took up wood carving as an act of desperation when all else failed. The enthusiasm with which he turns out an increasingly inventive cast of characters to

Writing an introduction to a catalogue of his work, Susan Seward Atkins says much the same thing with commendable brevity. She refers to an early self portrait of the artist as Morris dancer complete with wide-brimmed hat, cockade and trimmings and all: he seems to be saying 'I feel rather silly in this outfit'. Practically all his subjects - including himself - seem to be saying much the same thing.