"High Fiber & Raw Materials" exhibition

My "Funky Monk" felted coat was accepted into the exhibition "High Fiber & Raw Materials". The exhibition runs from August 26-October 7, 2010 at The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, Houston,TX,USA.
I'm really happy with the way my coat is displayed. They really did a great job. Someone said it reminded them of Mary Poppins. I could see my coat from outside and my first words were: "my coat is flying".

The Climate Is Changing! - Wuppertal, Germany

The exhibition is taking place now in Historisches Zentrum, Wuppertal Germany. On view July 17 - August 15, 2010.

The Climate Is Changing - Prato,Italy

This is another video from the international travelling exhibition of felt work that I'm a part of. This is the first opening of the exhibition which was in Prato,Italy. The exhibition will later travel to Germany and UK. In this video you can see some artists being interviewed about their art works in their original language.

The Climate Is Changing - Prato,Italy

I just found this video on a friends blog and wanted to share it with you so you have a chance to see the preparation for our exhibition in Prato, Italy and to see what it's all about. Enjoy !

The Climate Is Changing - Italy

"The Climate is Changing" all felt exhibition on view May 7-July 7, 2010 in the Textile Museum in Prato,Italy. It's a travelling juried exhibition which will also come to the UK, Germany and possibly other countries during 2010-2011. The felt artists from around the world are taking part in this wonderful exhibition and I'm very happy to be a part of it as well.

Dunes - Nuno Felted Scarf

My new work. Nuno felted scarf. Made of silk and wool. Natural dyed.

Valenki

I recently came across this photo, which I really love and which brings a lot of memories from my childhood. First things first, the white valenok is commercially made, but the little ones are hand-made by Russian feltmaker Natalia Simkina . When I saw this photo I immediately remembered my days back in Latvia when I was a kid. As you might know winters there are rough, it snows a lot and temperatures go way down below zero Celsius. So valenki is a perfect footwear for those kind of conditions. Me and my brother used to stay out for hours, lucky us we lived near the forest so we went skiing and sledging all the time. Some good memories there. Nowadays they decorate valenki with embroidery and different other techniques to give it more modern look, but that's another story.

Felt United Day-my installation "Tree Huggie" at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

Finally the day came. So much have been done from washing the wool fleece to dyeing and finally felting. The idea to make a "Tree Huggie" came to me exactly a week ago. I was at the Craft Center and looked at the garden. I saw this beautiful pine tree, just reminded me of my home country, Latvia, there're so many tall beautiful pine trees there and if you go to the woods the smell is absolutely wonderful. Immediately I've decided I wanted to make something special for that tree. When I needed to take some measurements a friend asked me how I was going to do that without a tape measurer and I said: " I'm just going to hug it." So that's how the idea came to life. The look I was going for was something wild, unpolished, natural, not perfect, organic, raw and I really love the way it turned out. The piece measures at 77"x30" and it looks just as it belongs on that tree. There were other feltmakers at the garden demoing and educating the public about this ancient craft (it's older than weaving) and I think kids really had so much fun and they even took their finished works with them home. The day was definitely a success and I can't wait to do it again next year. I'll post more photos to my Flickr page soon.

Preparation for Felt United Day October 3rd PART 2

So far very productive day. No washing wool today, may be tomorrow just in case I need more. Have been dyeing wool the whole day, I don't think I ever done that much washing and dyeing in 2 days, call me crazy :) The wool has been drying slower than usual, well it's fall and why do I expect the sun to be very strong ? Well because it's Texas and we usually get plenty of warm weather on and off till January. As the matter of fact usually for New Year's we're in T-shirts, can you believe it's that warm. It was supposed to rain today, but the weather has been very cooperative with me, I really needed the sun. Tomorrow is the fun day, felting all day long till I drop and want to do some washing in between felting, multitasking....the brake is not for relaxation, but for doing more stuff :). Should be fun :)

Preparation for Felt United Day October 3rd PART 1

If you've been following my blog, not long ago I wrote a post about Felt United Day, which is going to be October 3rd 2009. Feltmakers around the world are celebrating this day by exhibiting their works, making demonstrations to public etc. Here in Houston local feltmakers are bringing their feltworks to Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and will display it in the community garden, so If you're local make sure to stop by and check it out.
At first when I learned about this event I knew for sure I wanted to do something, just wasn't sure what exactly. So finally, a few days ago I got an idea, but for now I'll just hold that thought. Back home we don't tell details until it's completely done, just for good luck...I guess it's a Russian thing. For my installation I'm using raw fleece, which came straight from the sheep with all the extra "good stuff", you know what I mean... I love the organic and natural look you can achieve with raw stuff. Today I've been washing it, about 6lbs so far ( I think I chose the dirtiest fleece possible, but who said life is easy ?) and dyeing in the colours from the colour wheel slice from yellow to red, that's the only requirement. I'm using all the local fleece, by that I mean from USA sheep growers. Merino and merinoXcorriedale are from Colorado and I also have some mohair locks and rambouillet from Texas. I'm trying to use my stash, which grows constantly and out of control, so I got the perfect project for that and I'm thinking not a small scale too, at least that's the picture in my head, hopefully I can get there.

Contemporary Handweavers of Houston Annual Sale Event

Weaving and Beyond, the 2009 CHH Annual Sale, will be held September 24 - September 26, 2009 at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. For more information see our Sale Page.
Hours:
Thursday, September 24, 2009 - 6 pm - 9 pm
Friday, September 25, 2009 - 10 am - 5 pm
Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 10 am - 5 pm

At our annual sale event CHH Guild members offer beautiful and functional hand-woven, hand-spun, hand-felted works of fine craft: fashions, linens, tapestries, baskets, jewelry, baby items, toys, gifts and decorations. CHH members use the finest materials from silk, wool and cotton to tencel, bamboo, wire and willow.
If you're local or just happen to be in Houston these days, please stop by at the HCCC for a great chance to get some one of a kind hand-made items. My hand-felted work is going to be there.

Karoliina Arvilommi Felt Design Finland

The first time I saw Karoliina Arvilommi's works I was so amazed. Such distinct designs, you really can't confuse them with anybody else's. I'm very excited to take her 3 day workshop tomorrow. It's going to be my first ever workshop that I take, since I'm a self taught, should be fun...




Photoes courtesy of Karoliina Arvilommi.

Felt on Runway Fall '08

Stella McCartney Fall '08 RTW

Fabric created by British feltmaker Liz Clay.

Acqua di Mare

One of recently made scarves from my new mini collection "Light and Airy 02" - turquoise and white . Nuno felted scarves dyed with shibori technique. It's very light and drapes beautifully. The colour came out with different shades of turquoise, it's lighter or darker here and there, reminds me of clean ocean water...
I love scarves....I love making them and I love wearing them. They're very functional. Scarf is not only there to make you warm, it's an accessory almost like jewelry that completes your outfit. Sometimes I wear something very basic like denim with a tank or a T and a scarf makes it look more interesting, makes your outfit stand out, especially when the scarf is one of a kind.

Mapping out Paradise

Mapping out Paradise is an installation made of felt, glass, fabric and photocollages made by Claudy Jongstra and Marc Mulders. Museum De Pont, Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Fashioning Felt

There's probably no need for me to introduce you to this wonderfull exhibit, there's been a lot of buzz about it. The best thing of course is to visit it in NYC, but if you aren't able to do that check out the videos below. If you haven't seen those yet after you watch it you'll probably want to jump on the first plane to NYC, it's that impressive...Enjoy the videos and links ! On view March 6–September 7, 2009 at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in NYC.

Claudy Jongstra speaks at the openning following Kathryn Walter.

To read more about this wonderful Dutch feltmaker go here .

Making Palace Yurt.

Read more here about how Janice Arnold created the Palace Yurt.

Fashioning Felt on Martha Stewart show.

Felt on Runway Fall '09

Fendi Fall '09 RTW

Calvin Klein Fall '09 RTW

Yohji Yamamoto Fall '09 RTW

Images via style.com

"Melt" - Felted Rug/Wall Art Piece

My recent creation. What I was going for was - something wild, natural, definitely not perfect. So I went ahead into my stash and found some washed fleece, roving, bits of hand-spun yarn and silk fibre. I have no idea what kind of wool was it, but it felted so easily, it felt like corriedale or something similar. Didn't have a clear idea of what it was going to be, but I knew in the process it will become something that was deep inside me and wants to be expressed. I didn't think much on the colour, just knew it from the beginning it has to be blue and I also knew that it won't all be the same colour since wool and silk take dye differently so there will be some colour variegation. When the piece was all dried and ready I hung it on the wall and looked at it. The first thing that entered my mind was - melting ice, glacier. Climate change is a very hot topic recently and I've been thinking about it a lot, so I think that was the thought behind it all that my hands created listening to my inner voice. Size 22"x55" (55cmx137cm).