Flower gardens provide an endless source of inspiration for my art . I use wool fiber to translate the world I see into hand felted artwork and unique home furnishings.
My home and workplace are one and the same, a century old farmhouse on seven acres in rural PA. The farm has a huge wooden barn which shelters my small herd of alpacas. I incorporate their fiber in my felt making such as the pillows pictured here.
Artist Statement
The exhilaration I felt when creating my first piece of art is still the motivation for my work today. Although I no longer decorate mud pies with blossoms picked from the neighbor’s garden, flowers continue to play a large part in my art. I extract dye from plants to color the natural wool fiber that is my medium. Flowers and gardens are also frequently the subjects of my hand felted wall art.
Through years of experimentation I've developed a method for creating wool tiles and panels with a smooth "finished" edge all around. My method involves both dry and wet felting techniques, all done by hand. The only specialized tool that I use is a barbed felting needle. It is used to tack the design in place prior to wet felting.
The soft tactile quality of wool fiber coupled with the subtle palette achieved from natural dyeing gives my work a unique aesthetic and allows me to express my view of nature in a harmonious and organic way.