In many ways discovering felt was a very natural and perhaps inevitable transition for my work. I am a painter with a love for color, a sculptor/installation artist with a passion for form and public art, a costume-maker with a keen interest in fashion and an advocate of folk-art and craft.
I see each of my pieces as paintings that must be touched, seen and worn to be completely experienced. I am, in no small part, driven by the vibrancy of dyed-wool’s colors and I like to collage mixed fibers together, such as silk and angora, to offer a variety of luster and tactile effects to the piece. I often allude to modern art styles throughout my art-making process. Having earned a degree in art and art history I have a mental museum of images and styles that I raid on a daily basis to create my future-primitive pieces. One can readily see shapes reminiscent of visual artists Alexander Calder and Joan Miro’, or line and color usage evocative of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Georges Rouault. Many of my signature pieces, such as my Rose scarf, have slight surrealism or magical realism at work.
Each of my larger wraps and throws are unique “paintings”, allowing me greater artistic freedom to explore subject and composition or to experiment with exotic fibers and materials. I find that a modernist approach, emphasizing composition, shape and color rather than specific imagery, is most satisfying work, as I am open to the unexpected results that the felting process can send my way. At times these fiber paintings remind me of the ancient cave wall murals of Lascaux, France.
I see my current work as having one foot in fine art and one foot in fashion. Over the next year I hope to push further into each of these realms. By making fine art felt pieces in the forms of wall pieces and installations, I can explore the expressiveness of the medium. I have also been training in draping and patternmaking, gaining the knowledge to make felt garments with a modern design and allowing me to incorporate flattering lines and subtlety into my work. In this, I am inspired by the work of other artists who work in a fashion context, Rei Kawakubo of Comme de Garçons, Miuccia Prada of Prada and Miu Miu and Vivienne Westwood just to name a few.
I approach feltmaking and the business of making felt art in an intuitive way, being open to the unexpected results of the medium and following this process of discovery to new applications. With each new development, a bigger picture becomes clearer. Conceptually, I see my felt work as playing with dichotomy: painting and sculpture, wet and dry, feltable and non-feltable, ancient and new, fashion and art, and striking interesting chords between these opposite principles.