Taking Inspiration
Where do the ideas for your felt projects come from? I find inspiration in a whole range of sources, sometimes it’s photos of flora or fauna I’ve taken on holiday or just stumbled across on the web, sometimes it is scrappy little samples from playing in the studio that spark an idea for a bigger project and sometimes it’s other artists’ work.
Potters are a favourite source for this last group, as a part-time potter myself I am probably exposed to other potters work more than most and I love the technical challenge of thinking how my favourite shapes and forms made in clay can be translated into a completely different medium like wet felt.
My interest was piqued by a post in the Sculptural Wet Felting group on Facebook (if you aren’t a member I recommend joining, there are some very clever people doing amazing things with felt in there!). The post introduced Ursula Morley Price’s incredible ceramic artworks, her name is definitely worth Googling and her incredible work appears to be for sale in galleries all over the world.
The post on FB set us a challenge, to interpret Ursula’s work in wet felt…. Challenge accepted!
Labour weekend was the second of our annual Auckland Fun Felter’s retreats, my (probably overly-ambitious) plans to make a 2 storey cat cave and a felted origami footstool were pushed aside so I could play with felted “fins” instead.
I confess, I had made similar pieces in felt before, these I called my “flappy vessels”. Most have been sold or gifted but I still have these two, my “helter-skelter vessel”:
and a hanging light:
But seeing Ursula’s work inspired me to go all-out adding fins to my “vessels”.
The first attempt was a hat, using my current favourite “Dragon’s Breath” merino and silk blend:
It reminds me of an erupting volcano, it doesn’t have a name yet but my thoughts are headed in that direction. Any ideas for a name?
I was pleased with how the hat turned out so set myself an extra challenge of making a vessel that could stand aloft on its fins, I think this one will be called “levitate”:
I am tempted to trim some more of the base fins so it is left standing on just a handful and make it appear more like it is floating.
Are you feeling inspired? I’d love to see what you create!
11 thoughts on “Taking Inspiration”
Wow Terry these are totally fab. They must have been a long time in the making, requiring precision layouts.
Love the colours of your hat….’Larva flow’…..comes to mind.
Your vessel – I like the idea of you trimming some more of the fins, particularly as not all of them are currently supporting the vessel.
X
Thank you Antje, they are a little bit fiddly to lay out, with lots of layers of plastic but using commercial prefelts really sped up the lay-out stage.
My initial reaction to Lava Flow – was Love it!! but then an image of a river of maggots wriggling their way down a mountain (Lavae Flow) popped into my head and I can’t unsee 🙂
I really enjoyed reading this and seeing your work. My work is almost exclusively felt paintings (needle and wet), but I also look to nature for my inspiration. The play of light is especially compelling to me and I see how this might be a component of at least one piece you feature.
Wow Teri, these are both awesome. For the hat, I keep thinking of the song “Girl on Fire”. Lots of good lyrics that could be adapted for your hat name. The vessel would be cool if you trimmed some of the base fins. But it will be a balance and structure issue, won’t it?
Thanks Ruth, interesting that you see a fire, when I selected the Dragon’s Breath blend that was in my thoughts and I was in half a mind to cut vertical slashes into the fins to emulate flames.
Yes, it is anxiety that I will trim too many of the fins and it won’t be able to support itself any more that is holding me back with the scissors, but as Antje said, there are 4 or 5 fins on one side that are’t touching the ground so I’m sure I can remove at least 1/3 of them…. I’m also tempted to take some of the visual (and physical) weight from the top of the fins. Lots to think about! 🙂
The hat is lovely and would certainly ‘turn heads’ when worn 🙂
Thank you, I sure hope so! 🙂
great pieces you have a wonderful imagination. The vessel is my favourite of the 2, very architectural. It looks like it could be a piece of public art standing in a park or fountain. how about Vesuvius for a hat name.
Vesuvius – brilliant! I think we have a winner 🙂
These are fabulous Teri. There’s so much movement in the pieces. The hat is definitely wearable art.
Be sure to check out the ceramicist Erum Aamir.
Helene
Thank you Helene – I am blown away by Erum’s work! There are elements that remind me of Saar Snoek’s felted art works and I am itching to play!!