Pictured: Feltmatters co-Host Heather Potten as she interviews Vivienne Morpeth and Alun Kirby about their collaboration with Cyanotype and Nunofelting.
The International Feltmakers Association (IFA) has just released the first podcast of its third season: The Blueprint of Art: Cyanotype Meets Felt. In this episode, Heather Potten interviews her co-host, Vivienne Morpeth, and artist Alun Kirby about their collaboration with Cyanotype and Nunofelting.
As always, the FeltMatters podcast is fascinating, as they discuss the trial-and-error process, artistic exploration, and the interplay between established techniques and modern art forms.
Pictured: Poster for upcoming online course – ‘The Magid of Natural Dyes & Cyanotype Printing’ with Ashleigh Ellis.
Unrelated to the IFA’s podcast, there is a timely opportunity to study cyanotype printing on paper, fabric, and other substrates with Irish artist and instructor Ashleigh Ellis. The course, ‘The Magic of Natural Dyes & Cyanotype Printing,‘ combines Cyanotype with Natural Dyeing to create further colourways.
The Welcome Module opens on the 19th of March, and the Live Zoom is on the 26th of March, at 4 PM. There are five live Zoom sessions, all of which are recorded and sent to students.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
While browsing the Internet, we found an interesting article in Smithsonian Magazine about artist Janice Arnold‘s large-scale felted installations.
Inspired by her travels and research of Central Asian nomadic societies, Arnold’s large-scale installations showcase the material of felt. Her projects often involve community collaboration, emphasising the material’s role in fostering social bonds and ecological balance.
Arnold recently installed her two-story immersive installation with a video component, ‘Woolen Clouds,’ in the central lobby of the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
The article also mentions Arnold’s community felting project, ‘Monster Felt‘, created from 2012 to 2016 in Teiton, Washington. This website shows the scale of the project, which is the largest piece of community felt made in North America. It includes marvellous step-by-step photographs of the project and a great video of her journey as an artist. https://www.tietonarts.org/monster-felt
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Leiko Uchiyama in her studio.Tamzen Lundy with one of her foxes.Karena Ryan seated amongst her art.
The Design and Craft Council of Ireland (DCCI) has an ongoing series called‘Meet the Maker’, which interviews members and asks exciting questions such as, “What do you like most about your work?”. In addition, the DCCI has another feature called ‘Sunday Spotlight’, which shares information about a member via DCCI’s social media.
Three of Feltmakers Ireland’s guild members were recently featured by the DCCI.
If you are a member of the DCCI, you can arrange for yourself to be featured in a ‘Meet the Maker’ and/or a ‘Sunday Spotlight’! Contact the DCCI for further information – communications@dcci.com
Membership at DCCI allows designers and makers to:
Benefit from all DCCI services, projects and programmes
Get their regular e-newsletter, Connect
Participate in their health, personal accident and public liability insurance schemes
Fully professional members can boost their profile by listing on their Public Directory of Craftspeople. {Editor’s note: makers who work the material of felt are often found under the ‘Textile Making’ discipline on the directory.}
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
Felting Journeys is a series of articles on how members have fallen in love with feltmaking. Our inaugural post is by Clare Brophy.
Silk and wool Nunofelted wrap by Clare Brophy
What is Nuno felting?
NUNO is a method of wet feltmaking. The name is derived from the Japanese word for ‘cloth’. It involves the bonding or blending of sheep’s wool into a sheer or woven fabric like silk gauze or silk chiffon. The resulting material is lightweight, strong, warm, and luxurious.
It was invented by Polly Stirling, an Australian textile artist, 25 years ago when she sought to create wearable felt for warmer climates. {There is a fascinating video interview with Polly here – https://youtu.be/xYnBcCqtUzg?si=wYDtobdIA4fScjyC }
You can Nunofelt using other fabrics, too. Any open or loose weave, where the fibre can migrate through and intertwine, can become felt. Other fabrics give a different result to silk, plus the finest Merino wool. Nuno made using silk and Merino drapes beautifully and feels luxurious on the skin. I’ve used muslin, cheesecloth and several different kinds of cotton, but my first love is silk chiffon or the finest Margilan silk and Merino.
Some Examples of Nuno felting
Nunofelting onto cotton muslin.
How do you make NUNO?
To create Nunofelt, you make a sandwich by placing silk inside the Merino wool by laying down the wool first, then the silk, and then the wool on top. The rest of the process is the same as any wet felting process. You can also make an ‘open sandwich’ by adding wool to only one side. Some designers make the sandwich with Merino wool inside two layers of silk. I’ve never tried this myself, or not yet!
What about silk?
I discovered Nunofelting about eight or nine years ago. I was immediately hooked! I scoured charity shops searching for vintage silk. I became known among the nine charity shops on Camden Street and the one on Prussia Street as “The Silk Searcher”. My neighbour, Feltmakers Ireland’s Chairperson, Deirdre Carroll, kindly donated some of her silk scarves to upcycle into Nunofelted wearables. If I found a dress or a blouse, I’d cut it up into small sample sizes, dye them into many colours, and use the only wool roving I knew about then, from DHG in Italy – Merino roving.
Of course, I made mistakes:
1. Buying silk online, only to discover it wasn’t silk but some mixed synthetic mixture masquerading as silk which didn’t felt. I vowed never again to buy online but to hold the silk in my hand and have it tested. Be clear on which silk you need for the final purpose. I’ve used silk Organza and silk Habotai. Both felt well for fine wearables.
2. I tried using cheaper, rougher wool batts, as I bought wherever I could, often in kits, online. I was never entirely happy with the results; it depends on your purpose. Batts are okay with muslin for bags or slippers – just not worn next to the skin.
I am sure I became a nuisance at the silk counters in the TWI Fabric Shop in Dublin and on my other regular shopping sprees in the Julian Lopez Fabric Shops in Madrid and Murcia because I insisted on the Burn Test when I was buying silk Chiffon or Habotai. They always brought me to a safe sink with water, got a cigarette lighter and proved that the silk I was buying was indeed truly silk! (If it’s not silk, it has a flame; if it IS silk, it will leave a charred hole and no flame). Another less reliable test is the ‘blow test’: if you can feel cold air on your palm when you blow through the silk, then it is silk.
I should say, too, that very early on, I discovered Margilan silk Gauze and was brave enough to buy a 100-metre bolt directly from Afghanistan! I enjoyed dying it and matching it to the Merino wool. I was constantly learning about textures and finishes.
Margilan Gauze is a very light, soft silk fabric with a beautiful sheen, allowing for transparency and breathability. Meld it with the finest Merino, or a silk and Merino mix, from DHG in Italy; the results are fantastic! I like adding Tussah silk or viscose to add interest and texture.
I should add another reassuring fact: I have washed all these silks and wools in relatively warm water and ironed them on a silk setting. I have used, in recent years, a sander to speed up the felting. Silk, fused with Merino, is a robust fabric that fares well in this process.
More Samples
Using fabrics as embellishments on top of wool.
My involvement:
Before I discovered feltmaking, I had been a painter/artist, having gone to the National College of Art & Design (NCAD) for a few years before and after I first retired in 2004. But after discovering Nunofelting, I did nothing for an entire year except study wet felting on YouTube, joining all sorts of online communities for wet felting, especially those of the Nuno style. I created endless samples. I am indebted to the many makers who upload tutorial videos and share them with learners like me through YouTube. I am also indebted to those who answered my questions.
Lena Archbold’s online courses became my ‘go-to’ place. After you buy her courses, she follows up by emailing her students many helpful tips. Additionally, there are countless courses available online for all standards of feltmaking. For example, Guild member Hélène Dooley (Feltzen) teaches online via the International Feltmakers Association.
When I made my first wrap, the only 100% silk chiffon I could find in this city of Dublin was in TWI, Mountjoy Sq. East. Dublin 1. And they only had a black colour, so I made a black Nunofelted wrap, with black Merino roving and tussah silk fibre. Later, a city dress designer, whom I employed to make a dress for me for a special wedding, saw it and asked me if I would trade it with her in return for her dressmaking skills! She adored it, and I was delighted with my dress!
Then, I made a second wrap, this time for myself, using the same back silk chiffon and a cool green wool fibre. I was wearing it around my shoulders while stopping for a coffee en route to a family wedding in south Wicklow one day. We popped into Avoca. Imagine my shock and surprise when a very glamorous lady stopped me. Hugely admiring my wrap, she asked where I bought it. I thanked her but avoided answering about buying it. She persisted, and finally, I whispered, ‘I made it myself!’ Well!! She then told me she was the buyer for Avoca and would buy them from me!!! Could I make, perhaps, 10 a month? For all their stores???
So, my business was born! After eight years and a particularly busy three years during COVID-19, I finally closed this year – retiring for the second time in my life. I have sold Nunofelted wraps, neck warmers and collars online all over the world during these years. I also sold them in a designer shop in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin.
Other Maker’s Examples
You will have seen exquisite examples of Nuno felting at Feltmakers Ireland’s recent ‘Bountiful’ exhibition, where designer Mel Bradley created two felted scarves using the technique.
One of Mel Bradley’s Nunofelted shawls.
Feltmakers Ireland
Several years ago, I was out in Phoenix Park one Sunday morning and happened to walk by the Studio near Knockmaroon Gate, which is now the Biodiversity Centre. Curious to see what was happening, I stopped and was invited in by Vicki. I soon joined Feltmakers Ireland and widened my knowledge of feltmaking: making hats, slippers, and neck warmers. And I learned about adding all sorts of embellishing fibres and yarns. I did all their workshops and Sunday Sessions. I am indebted to this wonderful group of people who warmly share their skills and knowledge with all new members, as I was then.
I have always been a lifelong learner, and although arthritis in my hands, and my advancing age, (78 next birthday), are stopping me now from feltmaking, I will always support Feltmakers Ireland in whatever way I can!
So, hang it there, new members! The sky is the limit with Feltmakers Ireland! I have experienced Showcase, Bloom, and Art exhibitions. Plus, I have also had the experience of working on the committee!
Nowadays, I see that Textile Art is, at last, getting more attention and publicity than before. Our next focus will be to persuade the Art world that Felt Art can rightfully take its place alongside all other art forms. Onwards and Upwards!
Me, wearing my own black and green wrap about eight years ago!
SAQA, or Studio Art Quilt, is an international organisation dedicated to promoting the art quilt and the artists who create them. In addition to curating exhibitions devoted to art quilts, they have a fascinating series of artists’ talks on their YouTube Channel @SAQAArtQuilt. These videos cover many different textile practices.
Textile Talks features weekly presentations and panel discussions from the International Quilt Museum, Quilt Alliance, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and Surface Design Association.
Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.
Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.
Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.
‘Arbour Essences in Anthropocene Dublin – Four New Visions for our Urban Forests’, a group show running at the Olivier Cornet Gallery until 30 June 2023.
Artists: Annika Berglund, Hugh Cummins, Eoin Mac Lochlainn and Yanny Petters, with a small selection of works by Belvedere College’s art students.
The exhibition is sponsored by Coillte Nature and is also complemented by an outdoor ‘pocket’ urban forest installation in collaboration with Simon O’Donnell from the Urban Farm project at Belvedere College.
Artists’ Talk
Author and writer Paddy Woodworth co-curated this exhibition and will chair a panel talk with the four artists at 6:30pm on Wednesday, 7 June 2023, at Olivier Cornet Gallery, 3 Great Denmark Street, Dublin.
You are invited to attend this free event, but booking is advised as seats are limited. Please email info@oliviercornetgallery.com or phone/text 087 288 7261 to book your seat.
“It’s been exceptionally exciting, stimulating – and humbling — to assist, however indirectly, in the development of an exhibition by four artists as talented and as responsive to environmental issues as Annika Berglund, Hugh Cummins, Eoin Mac Lochlainn, and Yanny Petters, with a co-curator as generous, insightful and experienced as Olivier Cornet. And, after many months of periodic discussions around the theme of urban trees, it’s been a breath-taking pleasure to walk into Olivier’s gallery and see such beautiful, poignant and sensitive work on the walls. Annika’s magical evocation of the unseen wood-wide web that sustains trees from beneath our feet, Hugh’s delicate use of wood itself as a material for subtly allusive art, Eoin’s heartfelt, heart-breaking elegies for individual trees loved and lost, and Yanny’s innovative and exquisite celebration of trees in Dublin’s historical topography – all engage us intimately with the role of trees in making our cities more liveable, healthier, happier spaces. And they all hint at the catastrophe we are inviting by tearing the interconnected fabric of life to breaking point. It was an added delight to see the loving sketches of Katy apple trees by Belvedere College students, adding a dimension to the show that is both youthful, and rooted in the gallery’s location on the college’s property. And the installation of birch trees and ferns in the basement frontage showed visitors to the gallery how nature can bring vivid life to neglected city spaces. In our panel discussion with the artists, we will discuss their practices and techniques and reflect on the relationship between art and environment, and how this relationship can enhance environmental awareness, without losing artistic integrity. I look forward to it very much.”
interview first published in dec 2019… yara will be leading an exclusive feltmakers ireland members only finger puppet online workshop on may 1st… limited to 30 places on a first come first served basis- this is filling up quickly. please submit your interest to FIONA- ADDRESS fmrleech@gmail.com
Felt makers Ireland follows several felt makers on Instagram to get our regular fix of inspiration. A member put us in touch with Yaroslava Troynich, a 41yr old Russian textile artist, based in Helsinki, Finland. Her specialty is felted animal puppets. She says “this is fun textile way to worship wildlife” we decided to get in touch to find out more…
Tell us a little about you as a person? e.g. upbringing/ where you work/ work other than textiles…
My life seems to me like a huge pile of wool, which I could transform into endless forms.
I was born in USSR and had no artistic background in my family. As a child I was fond of sewing textile toys and dreamed about art school and industrial design. The next big dream was to become a policeman to fight for justice and make the world better. However, the world itself captured all my attention so in the end I graduated from university as a journalist! For several years I have been traveling the world and contributing to Cosmopolitan and National Geographic in Russia and continued to write for local media after moving to Finland in 2007.
Most of all I loved to make stories about remote places, where wildlife, traditional lifestyles and crafts remain. The best moments of my life have mostly connected to wildlife – snorkeling with manta rays in Galapagos, planting rainforest for orangutans of Borneo or searching for the sloths in the Amazon.
Humans and wild nature cohabiting and environmental issues were always on my top interest list.
YAROSLAVA TROYNICH
YAROSLAVA TROYNICH
YAROSLAVA TROYNICH
YAROSLAVA TROYNICH
How and when did you start your textile journey… what is your experience, tell us a little…
Once in 2009 I came across of artwork done by Stephanie Metz. Her meaningful sculptures made of white wool and some experimental textile pieces were shockingly modern, pure contemporary art.
In Russia felting is very traditional craft and to me it felt quite outdated. But this was the first moment I began to look at it differently. My inner artist woke up. I tried needle felting and was amazed of wool’s ability to take any shape. But I really fell in love with wool after my first wet felted piece. The feeling of soapy babbles on my hands and witnessing of wool fibers transformation into something totally new – this magic has forever bewitched me. Quite soon I realized that I want to work with 3D-felt. In my childhood I loved “bibabo”, traditional Russian hand puppets, with their history dated back to 17 century and originated in Italy and France. Ideas came fast and naturally. My first fox puppet was born, and it felt like a real gift from textile and craft gods. Surprisingly, combination of traditional felt with traditional toy turned in to very modern and unique art object. Suddenly everything came together: my love of puppets, of wildlife and of wool. That is the story of my own transformation into textile artist specialized in felted animal puppets.
My artwork is my small personal contribution to environmental awareness. These puppets are really great communication gadgets. They help to connect parents with children, create new stories and learn new things. They have strong social position – they support environmental education and promote love to animals. My special pride if they work with ecologists in the national parks and museums and with teachers and psychologists.
I have been learning a lot from great textile artists to develop my own skills, tried new areas of textile art but nothing makes me as happy as these animal puppets. Felting process itself has great art-therapeutic effect on me. So, I do share these benefits with others on my workshops around the world. I love to teach adults and transform them into artists and kids at least for a day. This transformation is no less amazing than wool metamorphoses. Sometimes I feel that it can be my real vocation to inspire people for creating via my puppets.
Tell us about your process from conception to creation and what is your motivation? e.g. for hobby/ creativity/ art/ fashion/ health/ money…
My strongest motivation is a game with the world, special quest. I want to explore its secrets and search for opportunities to create new, positive and inspiring things.
Almost all my ideas I draw from the nature. Weird animals, beautiful animals, endangered animals. While visiting national parks I have chance to encounter wildlife closer. Even though I don’t follow physiological accuracy in my work, I study animals a lot, examine pictures, watch nature documentaries and read about their habitats and personal lives. I am minded in spirit of minimalism, restrained Scandinavian design and naive art, so I try to create live animalistic images using as little details as possible. But I also like to add some humor or bright travel and cultural heritage inspired details to my work. Especially, I feel free with my finger puppet collection. Some animals can wear Russian felted boots at some occasions and use the laptops at their homes. This kind of art makes me play all the time. I draw very poorly, so my rare sketches look like ugly construction schemes. More often I just have an idea inside my head and then test it directly on the wool. Complicated shapes I break into many simple forms and play with it. I combine different felting technics but my main one is wet felting. There are wool, soap, water and hands only. I use a lot of different fibers for creating animal hair, especially I love hairy goat mohair. I try to make my felt durable and flexible in the same time to keep the most of mobility for the toys. Sometimes my projects involve dyeing of materials and even painting on top of the wool toys.
It is weird, but 3D objects at first are just flat and in the beginning of my journey I was too depending on the patterns and constructive solutions but nowadays I become increasingly aware of limitless sculptural opportunities of felt. You can always change, reshape, improve. Felt makes me feel braver as an artist because in this process even apparent mistake can turn in to genius idea. Besides, it is difficult to make mistake with animals – they always come out wonderful. Probably, because they are born twice – at first from the idea and wool and then again become alive on top of the hand while playing.
YAROSLAVA TROYNICH
What currently inspires you?
Lately I am passionate about the animation to give my puppets even more life and voice. It is inspiring to integrate and collaborate different types of art and creativity in to the one beautifully felted structure. Well, and sponsors of all my ideas and inspiration invariably remain wildlife and life itself, with all that everyday routine and new changes. The coolest ideas come to me when traveling or hang out in the mountains, through the forest or along the cold ocean. The Amazon jungle and Himalayan snowy peaks are my eternal favorites. But during my life in Finland, I fell in love with the north. Perhaps the northern animals are not the most vivid and expressive as objects for creativity, but the power of life in northern nature, with its short as a flash summer, is simply unique. This power nourishes me. In Finland, people are very respectful to their nature resources, and this gives me the feeling that I am in the right place. After all, partly my work is pure nature worship, and toys are a tribute to the nature.
Thank you Yaroslava for taking the time to answer our questions for supplying the wonderful images of your work and for providing the dose of Instagram inspiration that we need. If you want to see more follow Yaroslava at the below.
To all our lovely feltmakers out there here is a short film we made for you- members have already received an email and link to this video- now we wish to share it furtehr with our wider community through the blog post… we hope that you are inspired!
As we still can’t get together and the country is once again in level 5 lock down the committee have been busy trying to find new ways to inspire and promote the craft of felt making.
New 2020 committee member Deirdre Crofts undertook the latest task- filming a video with Sharon wells- textile Artist.
The committee wishes to thank Deirdre for her hard work ( made even harder by social distancing). We wish to thank Sharon for her participation again under difficult circumstances. We hope that you agree that this is a wonderful in depth look at how a felt maker artist works and their methods.
Sharon Wells is a fiber and textile artist working with wool and silk fibers born and bred in Co. Wicklow but her heart is in the Kerry hills. Sharon will explain how she skirts, washes and dyes raw fleece and will show us her beautiful work. You will find a link to her website below.
‘Into the Matrix’ Exhibition: 2 pm Monday 31st August to 4pm Sunday September 13th.
Open every other day from 10-1 and 2-5pm. 7 people can visit at any one time
Liminal is a County Wicklow based group of four artists motivated by their shared experience of establishing a sense of place in their adopted county. They have come together to find strength in working collaboratively and explore contemporary ways of working with fibre arts and mixed media.
Fabienne Herbert, Christine Theobald, Anne Walsh, and Nessa McCormack met through their involvement in Feltmakers Ireland and have previously exhibited with FI. This is their first group show. Each artist has responded to the theme individually, producing wall and 3D pieces in their chosen art medium.
Anne worked as a dress designer for 18 years before following her passion to understand the myriad and innovative ways that humankind have developed to exist in their worlds. This led to her completing a degree in Anthropology, later focussing on the Anthropology of Art in her Masters in New Zealand. It was there that she first learnt to felt, an artform that had enthralled her many years earlier during frequent visits to Co Clare. On returning to Ireland she continued to explore feltmaking, attending master classes with Feltmakers Ireland, constantly seeking out the possibilities that feltmaking provided.
“Throughout my life I have been drawn to the alternatives and possibilities of other worlds, to other ways of being. The exhibition theme, Into the Matrix, defined in one dictionary as ‘a mass of fine-grained rock in which gems, crystals or fossils are embedded’, led me on a journey to explore the otherness of the little known, the underworlds of limestone ecosystems. My personal quest was to interpret this environment through the patterns I saw, believing that even within the unknown, we recognise something, it resonates within us, speaking a language that we know in our souls, and it offers us a window to imagine and understand diverse ways of living, seeing, and being in our world.”
Originally from Switzerland, Christine studied Visual Arts and Art History in Geneva. Since arriving in Ireland, many moons ago, she has worked in the field of Special Education and Autism with a particular interest in facilitating arts and creative activities. After completing a degree in Early Childhood Education, she questioned the role that creativity plays in human development. With this vision, she found herself felting her way into the visual and design world.
“Wherever my eyes wander and play, I follow. Marvelling at patterns, I like to explore the underlying framework of all things. I am fascinated by the transformation of airy fibre into shapes, revealing geometric markings, with light and shadows playing their part. Smooth felted edges create harmonious lines and blends of colour emerge softly, adding to the understanding of the piece.
Free falling ‘Into the Matrix’ of my own creative experience, I made a series of pieces that tempted fresh boundaries. Upon self-reflection, my aim was to link natural patterns and ways to follow the fibre of my intuition, directing myself towards a space of effortless creativity that I remember having as a child.”
Nessa is an Irish artist living and working in County Wicklow. Having worked in the IT industry for many years, she returned to college as a mature student in 2015 and studied Visual Art at the National College of Art and Design, Ireland. Over the past 10 years she studied and worked with screen printed and sculptural fibre art which inform the layers and textures in her paintings.
“Vibrant abstract paintings that celebrate colour and simplicity in composition, combined with a deep connection to intricate patterns, form the basis of my work.
My paintings begin with colour investigations, usually derived from sketchbook studies and evolve intuitively through play, and a considered response to emerging layers of hand printed marks, spontaneous drawing and textured paint surfaces. I strive to keep an energy and freshness going throughout the process by working in a series of paintings, taking risks, moving quickly from one to the next interpreting and responding to what each one is telling me.
I have discovered a sense of place and a deep connection with beauty in the intricate details observed in my environment: in particular, communities of abundant thriving life forms in nature, their connectivity and constant renewal.
Indigenous global cultures have embraced this deep wisdom in the natural world and offer inspiration through symbols and vivid colours found in their textiles. My current body of work is an exploration and celebration of the beauty evident in their daily rituals.”
Fabienne grew up in western France. The daughter of a dressmaker, she was drawn early on to the process of creation. After working in software localization for many years, she studied, graduated and worked as an Interior Architect. This experience reinforced her belief in the value of simple forms and that materials awake our senses, evoking memories. She also studied Visual Art Practice in NCAD, where she won a prize in Embroidery. Her art is inspired by observations of her surroundings, an experience or a moment in time. Using printmaking and thread work, her work evolved towards abstraction, influenced by cubism and the Bauhaus movement. Fabienne has now taken a more experimental approach to her work by making and using natural and plant-based materials.
“How I perceive my surroundings, and what engages my senses, drive what I do. I seek to capture a shape, an outline, an element and build upon this. By expressing myself, I can find a balance between a sense of order and the unexpected. My process can start with a mark, a colour, a material or a series of experiments. I use printmaking and thread work to construct simple forms in wall art and sculptural pieces. I make my own colours using plants which I turn into a natural print paste, dye or ink. Having a direct link with the raw material is fundamental to my creative process.
Into the Matrix evokes the idea of repeated forms and actions, as seen all around us. For this exhibition I explore the relationship between repetition, pattern and space and how it impacts us. Based on my observations of the San Francisco city scape, this body of work looks at how materiality and repetition define our environment. I interact and move through the city where space, form and place meet.
All my pieces in this exhibition include natural dyes, pigments or inks made either from my garden plants, local flora foraged in Wicklow and during my journeys in France, or from food and plant waste.”
I joined the Feltmakers Ireland committee back in 2018. I took over the role of Chair back at the start of this year, ah, and what a year it has been.
A Global Pandemic wasn’t on my prediction list for 2020 and it certainly was not on the FMI “aims and objectives”! Who would have thought it? How our lives could be changed, futures altered and humans “Endangered”.
The title for our 2020 exhibition had already been decided at the end of 2019. After a few brainstorming sessions and with the Climate action protests at the forefront of our mind, we all agreed it was an appropriate topic. Ambiguous enough to give scope to creativity but clear enough to hopefully link the incoming submissions.
I am terribly proud that as a group we managed to put on an exhibition at all this year. Our proposal was for a gallery space at the Knit &Stitch in the RDS, this was cancelled… we had a plan B in place, a lovely space in the visitor centre at the Phoenix Park- 3 weeks before we were due to open this space changed too!
We flexed a little and changed course, in the end the judges- Gabi Mc Grath and Jane Fox were extremely impressed with the standard and marked and ranked the pieces. This we communicated to the applicants.
As a committee however, we decided we would try to show everyone’s work. With the year that’s in it, our aim is to keep the community motivated, to promote the work of local artists and to support… and so it was- all applicants work was shown albeit in a smaller location in the Phoenix park and we hope that you have enjoyed the on-line “meet the maker” interviews and photographs too…
Here’s mine. Tamzen x
Coral Bleaching by Tamzen Lundy
The Exhibition title- Endangered?- how does your piece respond to the title? your inspiration and methods etc
My piece is titled “Coral Bleaching” it highlights the topic of habitat loss, specifically in the Great Barrier Reef, the phenomenon of coral bleaching linked to elevated sea temperatures.
It is a textural piece using wet felt techniques including cords, attachments and shibori as well as hand embroidery and bead work.
I love colour and texture, so I’ve used bright fluo combinations. I interspersed these highly coloured sections with neutral undyed “ bleached” out wool, where hopefully the textures speak for themselves.
Last year I undertook the #100day project and many of the small pieces I created reminded me of coral or sea creatures. I spent some time collecting plastic waste and ghost fishing nets and incorporated small pieces of these into my work. I suppose that this “Coral Bleaching” piece is a continuation of that work.
some of my #100days of felt- Tamzen Lundy
Crafting through the current crisis, with the pandemic have you found time to craft, has it inspired you or have you found it more difficult- discuss
In my family this really has been a crisis year. I was acutely aware of the Global situation as it unfolded. I watched Covid 19 news closely as it emerged in China back in January. Back in 2003 I was working in Hong Kong when Sar’s emerged. I remember the nervousness of having my temperature checked at the airport en route home from a business trip.
With my own fashion design work, I travelled to Germany in February this year to consult with a large retailer ( and took a face mask with me “just in case”, but it stayed wrapped and sealed in my pocket).
By the end of that month, our relatives in Milan, Italy were in lockdown.
My Indian boss, whose family live in Madrid- had already started home-schooling.
On 12th March I picked up my 3 Children from school. My partner and I still didn’t realise then that by the end of the month both my freelance business of 15years would have ended ( I hope suspended, but I simply don’t know) I would have become full time- “home- school” teacher on PUP!
As large European retailers simply cancelled orders for knitwear, product that was already designed, manufactured, and shipped, the knock-on effect to the manufacturers and all their auxiliary partners (including me) was extreme. Capital dried up, goods stopped at ports and contracts abandoned, claims of “Force majeure” as European retailers shuttered their doors and passed the problem to the Asian manufacturers, ( and freelancers like me) who soaked up the losses.
I turned my focus to staying healthy, keeping mind and body together, working on my own creative projects and my family.
Luckily for my birthday my folks sent down a great big package of fibre, so materials weren’t a problem and crafting as always played a huge part in my life.
Art and Craft is not something I do in my spare time; it is the thing I do. The Earth without Art… Eh.
I’ve used this time to make 2 videos for DCCI and to start to video my work for future on-line felting tutorials. I am also organising a local #madeinmaynooth market for artists and crafters to simply set up a socially distanced stand and hold a “art and craft walk” on a designated day in the month.
I’m doing this as well as setting up an etsy store, supporting my kids as they transition back to school and volunteering with the FMI committee.
100 days of felt Tamzen Lundy
Felt- how you discovered it, what it means to you
It was at a Knit & Stitch show a good few years ago now that I first saw a demonstration. I studied Fashion and textiles at university and design knitwear ( very commercial, colour and trends) but felt was not something I had done before. I loved the versatility, 2d and 3d. It was almost like magic, fibre to cloth, with no needles!
Felting means I can be creative at my kitchen table. I can be present in the house, I can chat to the kids, but I can also work creatively for me.
I have an output for my creative madness that is both flexible and forgiving, qualities I respect and strive for in life.
I’d like to take this opportunity as the “Endangered” exhibition closes to thank our hosts the OPW, Phoenix Park visitor centre, The DCCI, The feltmakers Ireland voluntary committee for their hard work, our two esteemed Judges- Gabi Mc Grath and Jane Fox and all the applicants for their wonderful work.
We hope that through these tough times you have been inspired to keep crafting, keep creative and keep safe.
Feltmakers Ireland 