Susan Butler (née Guthrie)
1905 – 1996Susan Butler
Poet and Painter

She was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where her father was a doctor.  The family moved to Annaghmakerrig, Newbliss following his premature death.  In later years, it was Susan who convinced her brother that he should leave Annaghmakerrig to the nation as a workplace and retreat for artists from a range of artistic disciplines.  Susan trained as a painter at Regent Street Polytechnic.  Besides being a painter, she was actively involved in promoting the arts. In 1930 she married Hubert Butler of Maidenhall, Kilkenny, where she lived for the rest of her life. She was a founder member of the Kilkenny Art Gallery Society, was one of the founders of Kilkenny Arts Week, and in the last year of her life formed an action group to promote the establishment of an archive in Kilkenny Castle.  Her book of drawings, They Speak for Themselves, was published in 1984 and a book of poetry, Mind’s Eye, in 1993. The Butler Gallery in Kilkenny is named in her honour.

Image courtesy Suzanna Crampton