General Statement
Untitled, 2004, about 4 feet wide.
Felt is a essentially a process of fusing wool. It is literally about building up layers, and seeing how they merge during the fusion process. You can blend colors by laying solid color on top of color, or mixing them (carding them) into a single layer of blended colors.
I love felt because it's so free. You're not bound by a right and wrong side; they can be independent of each other. Two works for the price of one! You're not bound by strict rectangular form. I deliberately avoided studying any traditional forms of felt, so that I could experiment, and think my own thoughts without any responsibility to another culture. I have since allowed myself to learn about traditional felting in other cultures, but I am already strong in my own experimentation.
My first instincts were to add small beads to the felt work. I wanted to contrast the wool, which sucks up the light, with glass, which sends it back out. Shiny things on felt need the viewer's own movement to be seen. I like that.
It was very hard at first to give up horizontal and vertical, so I played a lot with references to interwoven strands. I'm ready to give that up. Letting go of a rectangular work area was even harder.
I constantly look at shapes and shadows in rock formations, in bark, in moving water. No matter what I do, my eyes return to the beauty, a full universe, found in 2 square inches of any of the above.
I personally view my felt work in two categories; art and artisanship. I make no judgement about either. As artisanship, I make mats for friends. Happy, exuberant, lively table mats. Nice, but design, not art.
Comparisons of Work and Inspiration
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 I see views such as this one as the ultimate inspiration for much of my abstract work. |
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 Not felt: rocks. I look at rocks and bark all the time; my work seems to reflect that. |
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So, here is a sampling of work. Enjoy!