The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has launched an open call for the second year of ‘Dwell Here’, its Residency Programme supporting creative practices in visual arts, design, architecture, curation, and related humanities.
Selected residents will engage in independent research aligned with suggested thematic areas and participate in a series of research assemblies held throughout the year.
Dwell Here is comprised of three different residency opportunities:
One-Year Residency
One-Year Studio Residency
One Month Residency
Closing Date for applications: Tuesday, 22 July 2025.
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.
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Liberties College will have an Open Day tomorrow. If you are interested in courses starting in September 2025, the teachers will be available to answer any questions on Tuesday, 20th May, from 10 AM to 1 PM.
Note: Several of Feltmakers Ireland’s guild members are students at the Liberties College and greatly enjoy their studies and the school. The cost is very reasonable.
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.
By starting promptly at 10:30 AM, we aim to complete the meeting’s formalities promptly, allowing us to listen to the Textile Journey of our Guest Speaker, Leiko Uchiyama, an artist, educator, and master dyer, who lives in Co Carlow.
Additionally, we will feature a Sellers’ Area and a Display Area this year.
Leiko brought a selection of her gorgeous hand-dyed fibres during the Pine Needle Felting Workshop in January. She will have similar supplies available to purchase this Sunday. Other guild members will be bringing felted artwork and supplies too. IF you want to be included in this Vending Opportunity, please RESERVE a spot by emailing feltmakersIE@gmail.com
Thereis no cost for members to sell at the AGM.
Agenda
1. Address by the Chair, opening the AGM (Suzanne Phelan will act on behalf of chairperson Deirdre Carroll, who is away)
2. Address by Secretary (Lorna Cady)
3.Treasurer’s Report (Annika Berglund)
4.Wool Project Wool Report (Annika Berglund)
5. Motions for AGM
6.Election of Chair and Committee 2025/26. Election of other Officers will be held at the June Committee Meeting. We always welcome new faces on the Committee—if you’re interested in helping to keep our Guild active and thriving, your support would be greatly appreciated!
7.Guest Speaker is Leiko Uchiyama, a feltmaking artist originally from Japan and now living in Borris, Co Carlow. Her journey has taken her from Japan to New Zealand, Indonesia, and France, where she developed her feltmaking techniques. Leiko creates wearable pieces made of wool and silks, which she dyes using her own colour recipes. She also makes functional pieces for the home. She teaches Felting workshops throughout Europe, America, Australia, and Japan, and has exhibited her work in many countries.
Leiko will also have her dyed wool roving for sale at the AGM. She will bring Merino, Corriedale and a Silk/Merino mix of roving, which is ideal for the craft of felting.
8.A Bursary Draw for €250 is open to all paid-up members and will take place at the AGM. The winner can participate in a Felting course and then provide a short recap article with photographs. (In 2024, guild member Adrienne Dempsey won the award. You can read about her experience in this blog post.)
9.Sellers’ Area: Members can sell their work, fibres or supplies at the AGM. Methods of receiving payment, whether by cash, credit card, Revolut, or PayPal transactions, are the seller’s responsibility. The guild will provide tables, but NOT coverings or other displays. Please RSVP to participate in the Sellers’ Area. feltmakersIE@gmail.com
10.Display Area: Members can also take the opportunity to display and discuss a small selection of their work with other members. Members will need to bring props to display their items. Make sure that your name is on your piece. The guild will provide two table coverings. There is no need to RSVP for the Display Area.
11. Refreshments and chat. Refreshments will follow. If you could bring a little something, home-baked or not, we’d be delighted. We always appreciate goodies with our cuppa. If you have a travel cup, please bring it so we can reduce the waste of single-use paper cups. As always, we will provide the coffee and tea!
*We kindly ask non-members to become members in order to attend the AGM.
Zoom Access
Members who cannot attend in person can use the Zoom link, which will be emailed to members today. This session will not be recorded.
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 the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
By starting promptly at 10:30 AM, we aim to complete the meeting’s formalities in a timely manner, allowing us to listen to our Guest Speaker, Leiko Uchiyama, an artist, educator, and master dyer, who lives in Co Carlow.
Additionally, this year we will feature a Sellers’ Area and a Display Area. See below for more information.
Agenda
1. Address by the Chair, opening the AGM (Suzanne Phelan will act on behalf of chairperson Deirdre Carroll, who is away)
2. Address by Secretary (Lorna Cady)
3.Treasurer’s Report (Annika Berglund)
4.Wool Project Wool Report (Annika Berglund)
5. Motions for AGM
6.Election of Chair and Committee 2025/26. Election of other Officers will be held at the June Committee Meeting. We always welcome new faces on the Committee—if you’re interested in helping to keep our Guild active and thriving, your support would be greatly appreciated!
7.Guest Speaker is Leiko Uchiyama, a feltmaking artist originally from Japan and now living in Borris, Co Carlow. Her journey has taken her from Japan to New Zealand, Indonesia, and France, where she developed her feltmaking techniques. Leiko creates wearable pieces made of wool and silks, which she dyes using her own colour recipes. She also makes functional pieces for the home. She teaches Felting workshops throughout Europe, America, Australia, and Japan, and has exhibited her work in many countries.
Leiko will also have her dyed wool roving for sale at the AGM. She will bring Merino, Corriedale and a Silk/Merino mix of roving, which is ideal for the craft of felting.
8.A Bursary Draw for €250 is open to all paid-up members and will take place at the AGM. The winner can participate in a Felting course and then provide a short recap article with photographs. (In 2024, guild member Adrienne Dempsey won the award. You can read about her experience in this blog post.)
9.Sellers’ Area: Members will have the opportunity to sell their work, fibres or supplies at the AGM. Methods of receiving payment, whether by cash, credit card, Revolut, or PayPal transactions, are the seller’s responsibility. The guild will provide tables, but NOT coverings or other displays. Please RSVP if you wish to participate in the Sellers’ Area, as space is limited. feltmakersIE@gmail.com
10.Display Area: Members can also take the opportunity to display and discuss a small selection of their work with other members. Members will need to bring props to display their items. Make sure that your name is on your piece. The guild will provide two table coverings.
11. Refreshments and chat. Refreshments will follow. If you could bring a little something, home-baked or not, we’d be delighted. We always appreciate goodies with our cuppa. If you have a travel cup, please bring it so we can reduce the waste of single-use paper cups.
Zoom Access
Members who cannot attend in person can use the Zoom link, which will be emailed beforehand on Friday. This session will not be recorded.
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 the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
The results of the workshop captured by Hélène Dooley
On Saturday, the 26th of April, 20 students gathered around artist and Feltmakers Ireland guild member Annika Berglund to learn about Fine Feltmaking. In the morning, we concentrated on flat, two-dimensional wet felting, and during the afternoon, we focused on creating a three-dimensional vessel.
What is Fine Felt?
With this type of wet felting, the aim is to create dense, smooth felt. It is not a fast process. She shared that she came across the slow approach during her research for the guild’s Irish Wool Project. One of the wool tester’s felted samples were exceptionally smooth and tight. In querying this person, she deduced that our usual method, which involved a bit of rubbing and a lot of rolling, needed to be reexamined. By slowly compressing the fibres, the results are better!
Consequently, during the Fine Felt Technical Workshop, we didn’t toss or throw. Instead, we took it slow. Annika said we might never seek this patience-requiring method again, but we would know and have the option to use it in our future felting. Nevertheless, Annika reminded us that “Felt is Forgiving”.
Throughout the workshop, the students used only two colours: black and white. This simple limitation allowed us to experience how colours combine through the feltmaking process. Similarly, we learned about the differences between the wispy and the blunt ends of a wool shingle and how they can impact the final project. There was a lot to think about!
Annika demonstrating layout
Morning
In the morning, we worked on a flat square of felt. We learned how to carefully lay out Merino wool roving to a specific size and then gently transform the fluff into felt. Annika explained the hows and whys of why we might want to shrink our samples more or less. Interestingly, we worked in imperial measurements (inches) because the percentage shrinkage was more obvious. As we shrank down our pieces, she reminded us to remember the edges!
Annika is demonstrating compressing the fibres
Afternoon
In the afternoon session, the students concentrated on creating a three-dimensional sphere. We used a flat, circular-shaped resist to make this hollow form, a vessel. Interestingly, the afternoon vessel layout was a quicker process. However, similar to our morning education, this felting process needed a delicate touch. Annika reminded us that with rolling, it can get bumpy; the resist inside may bunch up, but you’re in control.
Annika is demonstrating how to lay out a three-dimensional sphere.
Busy Hands
Laying out the fibres.Compressing the fibres through the bubblewrap.Making a flat squareMicrofulling in pointy corners.Rolling in hands.Checking shrinkage.
If you are more experienced with three-dimensional felting, Vanda Sousa has an upcoming online course that may be of interest. It is for designing resists to make felted slippers, shoes and boots – https://www.vandafsousa.com/resists-made-easy-for-footwear
Appreciation Time
Many thanks to the volunteers who assisted in setting up the room and helping the students: Loli Cox, Adrienne Dempsey, Hélène Dooley, Marie Dunne, Sam Fagan, Juliane Gorman, Fiona Leech, Caitríona Nolan, and Suzanne Phelan.
Sam was invaluable, continually lending a hand behind the scenes.
Sam filling the Burco with more water.
A special thanks to Lorna Cady for taking care of the CIE Sports Hall and the tea, coffee, and sweet treats!
Lastly, a huge thanks to Annika Berglund for taking on this workshop for the Guild. She has a marvellous way of getting the students’ attention and also making us laugh!
A Video of the Day!
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
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 the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
Editor’s Note: Feltmakers Ireland member Juliane Gorman co-founded and organised the Dublin branch of the World Hat Walk. At last year’s event, she was the only person to wear a hand-felted hat made of felted sheep wool. For 2025, let’s add our FELTED HATS to the 2nd Annual World Hat Walk!They need not be pink-coloured, and can be wet or needle felted or a combination of textile techniques.
Do You Make Hats?
Many feltmakers create hats – are you one of them? If so, are you ready to flaunt your headgear in style? Come and join the Dublin Hat Walk, a delightful event that’s part of the larger World Hat Walk, happening this Sunday, the 27th of April, 2025.
Origins
Our event in Dublin is part of the larger World Hat Walk, organised by London Hat Week, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024. Of course, the grandmomma of all Hat Walks is the Passejada amb Barret – Barcelona Hat Stroll, which celebrated its 20th anniversary on the same day! (Do check out their photos – such wild hats!)
It’s a Global Phenomenon:
Our event is part of the second annual World Hat Walk Day, which was started by London Hat Week (LHW). In 2024, the LHW founders coordinated the first-ever World Hat Walk, with over 2,000 hat wearers participating in 21 cities across 17 countries, showcasing the strength of the hat-loving community worldwide.
In Dublin, get ready to strut your stuff starting promptly at 12:30 PM. However, let’s gather slightly beforehand, at noon, to admire the unique hat styles and capture some memorable photographs!
Where:
We will meet near the Fusiliers’ Arch, at the entrance of St Stephen’s Green, opposite Grafton Street. The Green Line LUAS stops nearby, making it convenient for everyone to join in the fun!
Dress Code:
Let your creativity shine! Wear whatever attire you fancy, but PLEASE remember to wear a hat! Whether it’s hand-felted or not, let your headgear shine!
All Are Welcome:
The Dublin Hat Walk is an inclusive event, open to everyone who loves hats and wants to participate in this vibrant celebration of headwear. Bring your friends, family, and furry companions along for an afternoon filled with fun and fashion!
Last year, we were on page 3 of the Irish Times!
Photograph by Tom Honan for the Irish Times.
Stay Updated:
For any last-minute updates or exciting announcements, make sure to follow our social media pages.
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 the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
NOTE: MARJOLEIN’S CLASS IS NOW FULL – as of 28th of April.
Feltmakers Ireland is thrilled to announce that we will be hosting TWO exclusive, wet felting workshops this year with renowned international tutors! We haven’t hosted an international workshop in a long time and are super excited!
Each workshop runs for three days and is limited to twelve students.
Registration is now open to non-members of Feltmakers Ireland. (Guild members have already received emailsannouncing the workshops.)
The workshop with Marjolein Dallinga is appropriate for intermediate to advanced feltmakers.
The workshop with Pam de Groot is appropriate for most feltmakers.
It is from the dance of often conflicting emotions that creativity and art are born. Though sculpture is usually perceived as static I see it more as movement, and in this workshop the movement of wool fibers into felt.
And as long as there is movement there is life and possibilities.
This 3-day workshop will deepen the consciousness about experiences learned from sculpting with wool and other fibres. We will explore different techniques for sculptural form ideas, with themes like: folding and unfolding, building relief clamping, binding, etc. All to become more aware of how and why we want to use this medium. This workshop is inspired by different ideas to make three-dimensional sculptures with conceptional, intuitive and sensual sources to create from. We will play with the processes of shortening, thickening, tightening, shrinking, and other transformations of the felted surfaces.
All out of the experience of discovery and surprise when working with this surprising wool medium.
WHEN: Friday, the16th through Sunday, the 18th of May, 2025, 9 AM to 5 PM
“In the workshop, we will learn several skills useful for fibre jewellery making. We will make one or more pieces of felted jewellery depending on the complexity of the individual design. We will look at how to design the piece for wearing, and how to construct various closures and attachments. You can also learn how to incorporate foreign objects if necessary.”
WHEN: Friday, the 18th through Sunday, the 20th of July 2025, 10 AM to 5 PM
NOTE: As of 28th of April, Marjolein’s workshop is NOW FULL.
To apply for PAM de GROOT’s workshop, please email committee member Annika Berglund at annika@annikaberglund.com
Please include the tutor’s name in the ‘Subject Line’ of your email.
All participants will be notified via email and provided with a payment link for secure payment using a credit or debit card.
Additional Information
Supplies are not included in the workshop price. Once registered, we will email students the supply list provided by each tutor.
Cancellation & Refund Policy for Workshops
If you need to cancel your place in a workshop, please notify the Guild by email at least 7 days before the start of the class. A €10 handling fee will be deducted from your refund.
Cancellations made less than 7 days before the workshop are not eligible for a refund. However, if you are able to find a replacement student to take your place and inform the Guild within this period, you will receive a refund (minus the €10 handling fee).
Please note: In exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, the committee may consider refund requests at its discretion.
Feltmakers Ireland is very grateful to have received grant money from the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland to partially cover the costs of these two workshops.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
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 the content, please follow the link to the organisation hosting the event.
Sculpture in Context will celebrate 40 Years of showcasing sculpture in Ireland this September. The DEADLINE for applying is next Friday!
Exhibition entries are open to artists working in three dimensions in any medium. They encourage the broadest possible definition of sculptural practice, encompassing object-making, installation, performance, video, and emerging hybrid forms, both permanent and ephemeral.
Note: In the past, several feltmakers have submitted and been accepted to exhibit in Sculpture in Context shows. Search ‘Sculpture in Context’ on our Feltmakers Ireland website to read about some of these members’ pieces.
The exhibition attracts numerous visitors and offers significant visibility and potential for selling work.
The large sculptures will be showcased in the garden’s natural setting, creating a dialogue between art and nature. The indoor gallery will showcase a curated selection of works, offering an intimate and thoughtfully arranged viewing experience.
Entrance is by open submission, and selection is made by an independent panel of judges.
DEADLINE: 11:59 PM, on Friday the 25th April, 2025.
How to Submit
Up to three submissions per artist are allowed, with an entry fee of € 16 for each submission.
The online submission process requires support documentation.Please note that if you close the portal mid-entry, your application will not be saved.
On Sunday, April 13th, long-time Feltmakers Ireland guild member Clodagh Mac Donagh shared her Textile Journey. Her colourful adventures in three locations—London, Paris, and Skerries, IRELAND —where she has lived, been educated, worked, and raised her family, enchanted us.
Like many guild members, Clodagh trained in fine art (in Ireland) and textiles (Goldsmiths in the UK). She worked in education. She taught textiles in multiple settings: to young people via schools, large-scale community projects funded by her local Fingal County Council, and even a textile education centre she opened in Balbriggan. Most recently, she taught a ten-week course on Wet Felting to adults at Castleknock College. Although now retired, she continues to teach Shibori Dyeing and other textile-related classes through Mel Bradley Silks Studio in Drogheda.
Teaching Felting
Besides working as an educator, Clodagh also worked as a dyer for high-end textile designer Sabina Fay Braxton.
She has also traveled extensively and shared some of her Japanese textile collection, which she collected during her visit there six years ago. When she was there, she visited Aramatsu – the town that creates famous Shibori!
Some Photographs of Felted and Shibori Dyed Textiles
On Shibori
Clodagh explained that the term ‘Shibori ‘ means in Japanese “to wring out or compress so that the dye does not reach”. The technique dates back to the 8th century in Japan. Traditionally, it was done on silk or hemp fabrics and was worn by the samurai and aristocracy.
Clodagh generously shared six Shibori-dyeing resist techniques with the guild. She explained that what we do now is not traditional.
Kamoko – a pattern with all-over circles or bullseyes on it.
Arashi, which means ‘Driving Rain’ in Japanese, is an accordion fold (like a fan) tied around a pole or pipe. It looks sophisticated, but not difficult to produce.
Itajame – an accordion fold with resists.
Nui Shibori – stitched with pleats.
Kumo – repeat in the fabric with a series of ties concentrically arranged.
Muira—The example she showed was a long robe made of panels. It was created using a special stand with a hook that catches fabric and stitched with a continuous thread.
Example of Arashi
Video from Sunday
A huge thank you to Clodagh for sharing your Textile Journey with us! We appreciate all the work she put in to share with us.
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
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.
This Sunday, the 13th of April, longtime Feltmakers Ireland member, artist and educator, Clodagh Mac Donagh will share her travel and textile experiences with feltmaking and indigo dyeing for our Sunday Session. She has traveled to Japan to study dyeing and will bring her fantastic collection of textiles. Additionally, she will demonstrate various techniques of achieving patterns through Shibori methods.
Due to health and safety, our Sunday Session will ~not~ be a hands-on Indigo Dyeing demonstration or workshop, but Clodagh will demonstrate shibori techniques.
Please bring the following items:
10 baby wipes
10 A4 sheets of paper, preferably white/plain (These will be used for demonstration purposes)
some small rubber bands
a few short lengths of strings (different thicknesses)
a few beads or glass pebbles
a ruler
pen or pencil, and a small bag to bring items home.
Note: These items are for demonstrating purposes only, not for dyeing.
Complimentary tea and coffee will be served at this Sunday’s Session. Home-baked goods to share are always welcome! If you can, please bring a travel mug to replace disposable paper cups.
As a member perk for 2025, we no longer charge 5 euros per session. (If you still need to renew your Annual Membership for 2025, you can now pay online here – https://feltmakersireland.com/membership-application/ )
This Sunday’s Session will ~not~ have a Zoom link. We apologise for this, but we will use a projector to share some of Clodagh’s photographs of her projects and travels. There is only so much technology we can juggle during a single session.
As this is the season of coughs and sneezes, we prefer you not to share these. Please do not attend if you may be unwell.We will have a photo-filled recap on the blog in the coming week!
Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog
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.
