Felting in the Studio

Making making in the studio this past week... felted rabbits and talismans. Thought it might be nice to share some work-in-progress pics. My plan is to create some online workshops in the near future, so photographing some step-by-step process pics helps me think more linearly too. (Photos, top to bottom: Felting rabbit head shaped around a resist; wetting down the loose fibers; dry fibers laid down and felted dreadlocks for talisman; checking rabbit ear to ensure strong enough to remove resist; final felted rabbits, stuffed with Pima cotton and weighted with a silk, hand-sewn bag of river stones.)

Talismans :: Felted Wool Sculpture

More felted Talismans join the fold. Felted Sculptures (Untitled). Exterior: Wet-felted wool; interior: local Pima cotton, netting, and river stones or glass beads. ~21-23.5" (h) x ~7-7.5" (w).

Earth, Water, Fire :: Felted Wool Sculptures

Completed this woolly trio, inspired by the elements, this morning. I duplicated the original study (the white polka dotted piece in earlier blog post) and added white wool to the tips of the dreadlocks in this newer version. The tree-like piece was the most challenging with its tapering vertical stripes; they needed lots of tending to in order to keep them straight-ish during the felting process. I am pleased with how nicely they play together as a trio, but not yet sure if I'll try scaling them up. Exterior: 100% wet-felted wool; interior: local Pima cotton, netting, and river stones or glass beads. ~20-23" (h) x ~7-7.5" (w)

Talisman :: Felted Sculpture

The house is filling up with my felted wool Sentinels and Talismans, and we may soon run out of space to store them :) I suppose this work is in response to the pandemic, and the desire to create strong (and sometimes quirky) protective "dieties" for the world. I will continue to explore these themes in the studio and see where things go. Wishing you all strength, protection, and hearts full of hope and joy.

Talisman I (felted wool sculpture), exterior: wet-felted wool; interior: pima cotton, glass beads, netting, 23" (h) x 6" (w).

Sentinel with Crescent Moon

Completed another small (26" ht.) "Sentinel" last night — with crescent moon. Love the mixed-breed dark grey wool (from R.H. Lindsay) — it smelled very animal-ly while wet and contains a fair bit of vegetal matter :) This series of felted sculptures consist of 100% felted wool forms with glazed and fired clay bases

Felted Sculpture :: Developing New Series

Some snaps of work I'm continuing to develop that I started creating while in Mendocino. Working title of series is, "Sentinels" — guardians, watching over us; which seems especially comforting now during this global pandemic. I'm also exploring the phases of the moon; tethered as it is to our planet and to our individual bodies. Photos: The large sculpture is 43.5" (h) and the small one is 23.5" (h); both consist of hand-felted wool hollow forms, with concave (closed) tops; bases are either fired/glazed clay or painted terracotta. #wildlywoolly #feltedsculpture #feltedwool

Residency in Mendocino, CA

Boy, time sure does fly! I'm just now getting around to posting some of the pics from the 4 weeks I spent in glorious Mendocino (at the Mendocino Art Center, MAC) during an artist residency this past February. It was such a gift to be able to have a beautiful, huge, well-lit (with a view of the ocean!), and well-appointed (thanks to the wonderful Linda Cloonan) fiber studio all to myself, 24/7. My time on the headlands allowed me to begin a new body of work combining clay and fiber, which I'm currently scaling up in my studio. It truly was heaven on earth. Artist residencies are incredibly valuable, and possibly necessary, in order to have uninterrupted time to bring ideas to fruition. Also, I met some amazing people — fellow artists, Art Center staff, locals/neighbors, and workshop attendees. The opportunity to teach a Botanical Vessels using Pre-Felts class was a bonus. Thank you to all the people at MAC for this incredible opportunity and for your deep commitment to artists and art making. I hope to teach another workshop at MAC in 2021, so stay tuned!

2020 Arizona Fiber Arts Retreat

2020 AFAR Workshop: (back row) Colleen Murphy, Sharla Peterson, Louise Love, Maona Grabscheid, Kathy Lohr, Joanne Nunn, Patti Dowd; (front row) Mali Pistiner, Kim Buchheit, Karen Billideau (not pictured: Gayle Starr and Shannan Cambern)

Last week's 9th annual Arizona Fiber Arts Retreat (AFAR) was a fantastic success. This event, hosted by the talented and generous Kimberly Hatch, brings together fiber lovers of all stripes to share ideas, learn, discover new tools and methods, purchase fiber and other goodies, and enjoy being with kindred spirits. I was honored to be able to teach (with the help of my ever-supportive hubby) a full-day workshop with an amazing group of students. We cut out botanical shapes from pre-felts (ala Matisse) and felted them into our vessels with great results. Every finished vessel was unique and lovely — just like each workshop participant. Thank you to all who attended my workshop and for all who make AFAR the incredible fiber event that it is! See you next year (Save the date: Jan. 13-16, 2021) :)

Installation Pics from "Explorations in Fiber"

Some installation snaps from the Hunterdon Art Museum's, Explorations in Felt which opened this past weekend. (Photos courtesy of the Hunterdon Art Museum). So honored and grateful to have one of my Sacred Landscape pieces hanging alongside works by some of my favorite fiber artists!

Artist Reception at Tohono Chul

This past Thursday was the opening reception of Tohono Chul's "On the Desert: An Exploration of Fibers," exhibition. I was pleased to have two of my pieces included in this exhibit (topmost photo) alongside some stunning work by several other regional artists. Two favorite pieces included, "Tobasco" made from old sewing patterns (resulting in a spray of krinkled shibori-style tubes with colorful threads) by Monica Zavala-Durazo, and the wonderful “burr fur” coat by Kate Long Hodges (from her Marry Me Earth series). Curated by James Schaub and surrounded by lush Sonoran Desert, this exhibit and the gardens are worth a visit!

AFAR's 2019 Vessels & Votives Workshop

We just got home from the 8th annual Arizona Fiber Arts Retreat in Prescott, Arizona. 2019 was a banner year for this fun and information-rich event! It's a place to make new friends and connect with old ones, meet master instructors and talk shop over lunch, enjoy a fashion show, and take an incredible fiber-related workshop or two (e.g. weaving, needle- and wet-felting, shibori and indigo dyeing, naalbinding, and more!). The word has spread and workhops filled up almost immediately... so mark your calendar if you want to get in on this in January 2020! I was lucky enough to be able to teach another Vessels & Votives class this year with an amazing bunch of creatives. We worked hard and had some good laughs... and everyone walked away with a beautiful handmade vessel or votive that they were proud of. Great job, everyone!

Art for a Cause

Phoenix Pride is one of those great organizations staffed by some of the best people in the world! My husband and I had the pleasure of being part of a group show sponsored by Phoenix Pride and hosted by Gregg Edelman at his very-cool Exposed Studio & Gallery. (Gregg is a super generous guy who is masterful at throwing great parties at the drop of a hat.... he's also quite the photographer.) The art event was a huge success with the top three juried pieces (including mine!) to be exhibited soon at the Parsons Center in Phoenix, AZ. Thank you Ryan Starzyk, Mike Fornelli, and the rest of the team at Phoenix Pride for this great opportunity, your graciousness, and your support of the arts — and thank you for your steadfast work in the LGBTQ community and for human rights, in general. (A big fat congrats to Ace Walton who took first place with a fantastic mixed-media portrait using, among other things, "cigarette ash and borrowed cosmetics" — how wonderful is that!)