Such a busy year - Packed full of happy times with family and friends, Studio Classes with Lovely Ladies, oh-so-creative Felt Workshops at Victorian Feltmakers with fabulous Tutors from Australia. and around the world.
FELTernative, the VFI (Victorian Feltmakers Inc) Exhibition at the Town Hall Gallery, Hawthorn, Victoria, which Jan Everett and I organized, was a wonderful celebration of Felt in its many forms.
The year 2011 also held sad moments of reflection, memories and tribute for family elders and friends that have passed away…
In the Studio it was a year of Quilts! Quilts! Quilts! One-day-Workshops produced completed Quilt-tops by the dozens. Have such good intentions of recording/photographing the Quilts as they are completed…only remember at inappropriate times.
The Quilts all look different. It’s amazing to think that they only took A DAY to finish. Ladies are warned that ‘Workshops’ are quite different to ‘Studio Sessions’ – it’s ‘heads down and bums up’. We’re on a mission! We have goals! We can do it!!! Only joking! But you can see where we’re heading…!
The Felting creative juices were flowing in 2011. I attended five Felting Workshops organized by the tireless VFI Workshop Co-ordinator, Narelle Higgins.
- ‘TRANSLATING IMAGES’- with Liz CLAY, from Britain. We used photographs with Felt in miniature works of art. Loved it!
- ‘IN PURSUIT OF COMPLEX CLOTH – PRINTING APPROACHES’ with Marie-Therese WISNIOWSKI. Introduced me to painting and printing on Felt to create fabulous effects with immense possibilities.
- ‘FELTED JEWELLERY – LITTLE WEARABLE SCULPTURES’ with Anita LARKIN. Exposed me to Felting in another dimension - constructing 3D pieces of Felt reflecting the natural environment.
- ‘RECYCLE KNIT AND RE-INVENT FELT’ with Martien Van ZUILLEN. Appealed, with the aspect of sustainability and re-using, in our throw-away world. Used part of my Handiwork to embellish a tunic which attracts many comments and which will feature as a May-2012 workshop
- ‘NEEDLE FELTED STAINED GLASS’ with Sadie O’NEILL. First attempt at Needle-Felting in a pure decorative form.
FELTernative 2011 was a huge success, with over thirty VFI members contributing exhibits. Broke a record for attendance on the Market Sunday. The diligence with which the members running the Felt-Stall promoted the exhibition, certainly worked. The 2012 Exhibition at CHAPEL-OFF-CHAPEL should be as exciting.
