Separate yet Connected :: Online Exhibititon

Separate yet Connected 2

Thank you for your care, time and effort to help make this project a success!

Rachel Bevington Emma Case Florence Daurelle ZoÊ Lardière and all of the participants!

1

Separate yet Connected

Separate Yet Connected These words sum up exactly how we have lived through the first half of this year, 2020.

March 2020 marked the beginning of so many changes. Plans became undone and either postponed, re-imagined or cancelled entirely. The global pandemic of Covid -19 required a great shift on every level. Many people have lost their livelihoods and their social support structures. Everyone has had a marked change in the schedules and passage of their days.

As feltmakers, we are fortunate to have a craft to allow for times of focus. Working with our hands has a grounding effect. It is something certain. Being in control of some small thing can be enough to make the day and the bigger picture feel a little more manageable.

On March 27th, 2020, I sent out a creative challenge to everyone who has previously taken one of my workshops. We have a very strong and supportive group on Facebook, and this became our meeting place to discuss ideas and check in with one another, as we worked on pieces related to the theme, Separate yet Connected.

Participants were encouraged to explore the theme literally working with images and ideas that resonated with them, or metaphorically, working through how they were feeling, reacting and responding to their new and ever changing circumstances. They could choose to explore the theme on a personal, familial or societal level.

This challenge was about making something tangible, setting aside some time to work with our hands, being together, if only digitally, and supporting one another through our creative process. It was open to all levels of experience. The only rule was to not let the making add any pressure or stress to our days or creative time but to enjoy this shared process and connection.

The work was all made in an eight week period from March 27th, to May 22nd, 2020, when all participants were living in some form of self-isolation, shelter-in-place or lockdown.

It’s a great pleasure to bring together and share this wonderful collection including an incredible variety of work in form, colour and style.

2

Lost but not Forgotten 122 x 76 cm (48 x 30�) wool, silk, plant fibers, acrylic on canvas

3

Separate yet Connected

If we dream of dying Don’t we dream of another’s embrace The clasp of a hand A heart’s whisper Or a cry of despair?

To be lost but not forgotten.

As I sit in the relative comfort of my house, in an area with relatively little impact, I read and watch as the pandemic death toll continues to climb. I imagine the decisions made by patients and their caretakers, the terror and loneliness of those choices. It seems a horrible way to die. This piece was created to honor the victims -- separated in death but connected by a virus.

Each of the dark roses is unique, created from merino wool, silk and plant fibers. Building the flowers was a somber task, and shaping them felt rather like embalming bodies. Knowing that so many bodies have been stored in cooling trucks, or cast into mass graves, I treated each with the utmost respect. May their spirits watch over us all.

Betsy Vaden has been felting for 2 years, after stumbling upon the work of Helga Yaillen at a local arts festival. Taken by the luxurious colors and textures, she has come to understand that felting is a wonderful combination of art, engineering, craft and magic. She has taken courses from Fiona Duthie, Pam de Groot and Katia Mokeyeva. Betsy’s work has an elegant simplicity, with a focus on shape, texture and line. She works from her home studio in Southern California.

Instagram: @betsy_vaden

Betsy Vaden California, USA

4

The Social Gathering 59 x 25 x 10cm (23 " x 10" x 4")

5

Separate yet Connected

This challenge made me think, this time made me reflect, this time made me still, and with so many ideas of how to transpose my feelings into form, I came to realize where my strength comes from. Using the goddess form, I have challenged myself to playfully experiment with form, composition and the many different techniques I have learned while connecting to this group. The strength we each hold is tremendous and the proof is in these weeks we have been separated. Nothing can contain the power of women, just look at what we have all been doing through all of this.This felting community is strong, supportive, sharing, caring, and reaches from afar to hold us all together! We may be separate…..but we are always connected.

Escaping rural America after graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for America Craftsman, Ellen Silberlicht returned to her roots in rural northeastern Pennsylvania after experiencing many of life’s adventures through the years. Her first exposure to felting was a jewelry class in the early 1990’s, but it took 25 years for her to be able to return to that spark. Trained as a potter, working with malleable material speaks her language. A huge difference to her approach to felting is the need to carefully plan ahead; clay can be very spontaneous. The natural world has always inspired her focus on the incredible textures and patterns found. The journey really began in 2016 when Ellen married her raku clay vessels with felted sculptural tops. Ellen’s artwork emerges from a sense of joy, playfulness and humor. Her appetite to learn and translate those influences continues her creative explorations. www.ellensilberlicht.com Facebook: ellen silberlicht Instagram: @ellensilberlicht

Ellen Silberlicht Pennsylvania, USA 6

The “Colour Collaboration� exhibit inspired and exhilarated me with the mesmerizing color explosion oozing from the complex garments.

My nuno felted garment, created with my hand-painted silks, contains cords with wires going through them. Each cord connects to the base but is separate from the other; some, twisted and knotted, represent the impact this Covid-19 crisis has on many souls. A diagonal area down the front contains plant fiber as well as locks in various colors.

The locks are connected to the garment but flow free on one end to represent our lockdown, yet connectivity, during the crisis. The back of the garment and the wide side panel communicate with each other through cords that can connect or remain separate. Separate yet connected through this crisis, we will have more compassion, love and patience, and appreciation for the little things.

Beth Marx (Studio 907) lives in Long Beach, California. She has been felting since 2007 and creates mainly felted garments and accessories.

She teaches, and sells at high end boutiques and galleries. She also makes felted costumes for a major theme park character.

Beth Marx

www.studio907.com

California, USA 7

Separate yet Connected

Beth Marx and Linda Armstrong met at the Felters’ Fling in 2017.

The current crisis brought them closer together, a separation of thousands of miles erased by technology. They collaborated digitally on their pieces which are inspired by Fiona Duthie’s Asymmetrical Tunic, part of the March 2020 “Colour Collaboration” exhibition by Fiona and Ellen Bakker. They were able to share ideas and troubleshoot.

Linda shared her experience with silk-painting, and Beth shared her pattern drafting skills.

Best of all, they developed a strong bond and lasting friendship, while creating their complex, hand-painted nuno felt garments.

During the pandemic, separate from most of the world yet feeling secure in my home studio, I was able to connect with felter extraordinaire Beth Marx, share ideas and further develop my garment making skills.

The palette - red, violet, turquoise and blue - is reminiscent of the way the coronavirus has been depicted in the Canadian media. The graphics, which suggest a series of circles connected with a straight line, and the closure elements reflect the sense of connectedness I experienced while working alongside Beth.

Linda Armstrong (Ecolam Fibrearts) is a retired Visual Arts teacher with a background in Printmaking and Photography. She began felting five years ago and is inspired by all things tactile. She has been fortunate to study under master artisans Fiona Duthie, Katia Mokeyeva, Ellen Bakker, Kristy Kun, Pam DeGroot, India Flint, Diana Nagorna, Kathy Hayes, Nicola Brown and Kim Goodling. Linda works from her home studio in London, Ontario, Canada. www.ecolamfibrearts.com Instagram: @ecolamfibrearts

Linda Armstrong Ontario, Canada 8

A Love Letter to the World silk gauze, ultra fine wool, hand dyed/inked silk habotai, sumi-e ink, Setaskrib+ fabric marker, Dupont dye 93 x 76cm (36.5 x 30”) I was inspired to create this ‘Love Letter’ as I contemplated on how we, on a global scale, are reaching out to those whom we love, whom we miss, and whom we have lost during this challenging time.

Writing is a universal language. Writing connects, and separates. Asemic writing - “without words” connects all, and no one. This dress invites contemplation, conversation, and communication. It invites the viewer to make one’s own meaning of the text, as the absence of ‘words’ allows for one’s own individual interpretation. Meaning-making occurs across words, languages, countries, cultures and emotions - infinite meaning, infinite connection.

A single pink stem signifies both love and departure. We are being challenged at this time to cultivate the ability to hold and shine light on the spectrum of emotions we experience, and endure. Honouring your emotions, you are invited to become co-creator in the message of the dress. Make meaning in this ‘Love Letter to the World” to you, for you, for all.

9

Separate yet Connected

Michelle Daoust lives in the beautiful mountain town of Rossland, in British Columbia Canada. Two years ago, she took a 5 day felting workshop which validated her reasons for beginning this fibre journey - curiosity, joy of colour, history of the craft, simplicity, form, and community. Ideas arise from looking around at the beauty which surrounds her, being in the present moment - to be with the wonderment of what is happening ‘right here, right now.’ Fortunate to be able to access on-line and in-person courses with masters in the field (Fiona Duthie, Ellen Bakker), Michelle has enjoyed creating with merino wools, many forms of silks, paper, inks and dyes. Her focus has mostly been on wearable art - scarves and garments. Michelle’s felt is simple in form, lustrous and vibrant. She continues to explore a variety of techniques and materials, learning from so many in the wonderful world of felting.

Michelle Daoust British Columbia, Canada 10

The world right now is not as we knew it prior to March 2020; it is slightly off kilter and no longer predictably spherical or straight forward. The shape of the pod represents this, as does the ruffle around the opening to our lives. As we move on from rigid guidelines for CoVid, our life is no longer black and white; it needs to become as flexible as the spiral in the tail. The people around the globe are represented by the nepps on the surface of the pod around the opening. We are all a little ruffled by the new reality, separate yet connected, one world, one invisible connector!

Darrell Giraldeau is a fibre artist, inspired by the shapes in the world around her on Vancouver Island. The endless possibilities of felt and the ability to create and represent “life� in a new medium continue to surprise and inspire her to learn and incorporate new techniques in her work and adapt in this new and changing world! She has always worked with fibre; her first memories, at age 9, are making a blue polyester skirt and vest with her mother. Darrell was introduced to felting in May 2018 after she retired, and as her friends say, it has gone viral! She plays with colours and textures using wool as her paint.

Off Kilter and Ruffled

Darrell Giraldeau

British Columbia, Canada 11

Separate yet Connected

This challenge came just as I lost my lovely friend to breast cancer - surrounded by all the chaos and uncertainty of the virus pandemic. I made a vessel which is in 2 parts. The inner vessel is made from merino and represents a garden. The outer layer is flat, completely separate, and represents the lovely garden of Verbena bonariensis which my friend created in her own garden. This layer is cut into to give glimpses of the garden behind.

The vessel and outer layer are connected by the cords from the inner vessel which lace through the outer layer like a corset. The outer layer also represents the back brace which my friend wore for the last few weeks of her life to give support and relief of pain as the tumour had spread to her spine causing a fracture. Making this challenge helped me work through some of the grief I felt at her death. I feel that although we are separated by death we are connected by memories and love.

Carol lives in the Herefordshire-Worcestershire borders of England surrounded by farmland and wild spaces. She has had a lifelong love of creating with textiles and continues to delight in the variety of textures, shapes and colours that can be created from fibre, soap and water. She enjoys the meditative process of laying out fibre. Carol has been attending felting workshops online and in person with local and international tutors since 2012. She particularly likes feeling part of a worldwide community of felters.

25 x 10cm (10 x 4�) merino wool .

Carol Dash England 12

(Im)mobile 80 x 80cm (31 x31�) variable merino wool, kozo paper, silk organza, hand-painted silk, silk cocoons, beads, buttons, locks, black marker, yarn and thread, Northern Flicker feather, arbutus branches, embroidery hoops

13

Separate yet Connected

The theme, Separate Yet Connected, inspires me on many levels. Like felt itself, the mobile, by its very essence, is the perfect metaphor, each element/material separate from the others, yet all connected as a greater whole. Each separate vessel/nest was born of the same resist, a circle, and some are reversible. Turned out, they spread out to explore and interact with one another merrily; turned in, they relax, content with introspection and watching the world go by. While creating this piece, I have felt many separate, often contradictory emotions-- joy, gratitude, empathy, grief, lightness, vulnerability, strength, fierce tenderness. These emotions, too, will dance in the breath of the wind that connects all things and beings, connecting in turn with each viewer.

This piece is dedicated to those who have passed and those to come, our Ancestors and the babies not yet born, from/to whom we are separate yet connected. Particularly to one of my favourite authors, Luis SepĂşlveda, who died of COVID 19 on April 16, 2020, and to "Takaya", magnificent wolf, shot by a hunter on Vancouver Island on March 26, 2020.

A couple of years ago, Florence found the missing piece to the puzzle of her beautiful life, in the form of felting. She is grateful that her wings of creativity keep growing under the mentorship of artist extraordinaire Fiona Duthie, online and also in person, and for the friends and talented artists she is meeting along the way. Her curious, playful and intuitive nature finds bliss in the infinite opportunities for learning and discovery offered by feltmaking.

Florence Daurelle British Columbia, Canada 14

I chose to make my piece round, symbolising the shape of our earth and the cycle of life.

The white “fins” symbolise human beings, connected with the earth and each other, as the centre of the piece breaks apart, revealing the energies/fire beneath the surface. Connection for me is more than being physically close to one another, it’s the energy between you and everything around you.

We are in this together and only together can we move forward. Let’s not go back to what was, but move forward to a new, more connected world. I have used grey Finn cross wool for the base layer and merino wool for the fins. On the back a piece of wire is stitched around the edge and wire spokes attached around the circle so the middle stands out from the wall. Many small hand stitched knots fill the middle of the piece.

Maria lives in Clare Valley in South Australia where she runs a small flock of hardy Finn cross sheep and a couple of Alpacas. Most of the wool she uses comes from her sheep, processing the wool herself by hand. Born in Denmark, Maria moved to South Australia in 2003, and in 2005 began her “love affair” with wool and felting, starting with scarves, bags, hats, and slippers, then shifting to three-dimensional pieces and sculptures. Her inspirations are many: a pattern, a poem, a piece of music, or the beautiful but harsh landscapes where she lives. Maria has taught many workshops, and been part of many group exhibitions over the years. She had her first solo exhibition, Divergence, last year. www.mariaholstsalomonsen.com Faceboook: DanishDesign Instagram: @maria.danishdesign

Maria Holst Salomonsen South Australia 15

Separate yet Connected

Connection is Everything 74 cm across, depth 8 cm finn cross wool, merino wool, wire

16

My interpretation of Separate Yet Connected takes form in a nuno felt quilt. One side of the quilt is made of natural colored Bluefaced Leicester wool, nunofelted to blue cotton printed with interconnected circles. In contrast, the other side of the quilt is white merino wool felted with cotton gauze encasing wool shapes of doves, flowers and hearts in a large circular pattern. The dark side represents the earthly aspects of life in the current pandemic and civil unrest where droplets and individuals can be dangerous. The white side of the quilt represents the comforting qualities of warmth, love, and security we find as we shelter in place and assist others in need. I chose gold thread to hand stitch outlines of the encased motifs and attach some colored felt pieces in the centers of the motifs and in the printed circles. I added a blanket stitch edge with handspun yarn to the dark side.

The other edge remains unfinished as does the uncertainty of our current time.

Becky Utecht has a small farm and fiber studio in the woods of rural Ogilvie, Minnesota. Formerly a painter, she turned to fiber as her medium after acquiring sheep in 2001. Using the wool from her sheep provides a perfect outlet for her love of art, nature, and animals. She is passionate about promoting ecologically-friendly, sustainable sheep and wool production. Primarily known for her “felt pelts�, she teaches felting classes regionally and in her Ogilvie studio.

Becky Utecht Minnesota, USA 17

Separate yet Connected

188 x 168 x 1.3cm (74”L x 66”W x 1/2”)

18

27 x 71cm (10.5 x 28�) merino wool 19

Separate yet Connected

Though there is a separateness, there is a foundation that holds us all together. Whether that foundation is one of faith, love, family or a general feeling of connectedness it keeps us on task and going. I love making fins and have incorporated them into my work for several years. Learning more about composition, form, line and space has been helpful in creating a unique piece. The fins remind me of ripples in the sand that are formed by the movement of water over them. This virus has moved over all of us, touching each in one way or another. It moves us, sways us, changes us and yet even though there is that movement, there is a constant where we are connected. One of the deepest connections for this group is our felting world which is like none other. We are one tribe held together by creativity, sharing, and genuine care for each other. There is a force like none other moving through us and yet here we are, still strong and together. We will rise-up, just like the spikes separated by the ripples, and be stronger and more creative than before and these connections will not be broken. We will always find a way to be together. Stay on the path.

Valerie Mclean is a lifelong fiber artist, with a passion for crafting unique felted pieces in the form of vessels, wearables, wall art, and sculptures. Her work has been featured in renowned art shows, including the Faulkner Gallery in her hometown of Santa Barbara. Valerie became intrigued by the versatility of wool after visiting a New Zealand art exhibit in 2000, and continues exploring exciting new techniques to this day. She even returned to NZ to participate in her first guild meeting, and now teaches local felting classes between her travels. After twenty years of study, the only thing she’s sure of is that there’s always something new to learn! www.sbfeltedfibers.com

Valerie Mclean California, USA 20

After a devastating loss 4 years ago, my family experienced an outpouring of support and connectedness from family, friends, and community. Even with that support, there was separateness in the new way we fit into the world. I equate some of my personal experience of loss and grief to where we are in the Age of Coronavirus, with the loss of our routines, our people, our businesses, struggling to help each other regain balance, Separate yet Connected. My reversible vest conveys the chaos I occasionally feel from the world today. The surface is twisted & rough, the circles of the viral cells and parallel lines representing how we are relating to each other. There is also beauty in the forced slowing down, hunkering down & connecting with family, and working at staying connected with our community. I believe that the use of patterned silk on one side of the vest shows this beauty. My “Pocket/Purse” is more obviously Separate but Connected, attaching to the vest and becoming a clutch when ‘separated.’ The act of Creating maintains mental health during stressful times.

Marcie Ziskind is a mostly self-taught artist who has recently taken many online courses in wet felting.

For the past 12 years she has owned a small business in Philadelphia, PA. She is continuing to pay her staff and has re-thought her business model to enable continuation after the shutdown. She has been felting for about 10 years, and loves the meditative aspect of this craft. Although her family has been in clothing manufacturing for decades, she only started making felted garments about one year ago, and instantly fell in love. She has made many different sizes and shapes of vessels, purses & scarves, and loves finishing any of her pieces with hand embroidery and beading.

Marcie Ziskind Pennsylvania, USA 21

Separate yet Connected

twine, silk, viscose, roving Photo credit: @cryptogam @julia aguilar

22

6 ft of Connection 200 x 50 cm (79 x 20�) merino wool, silk fabrics, silk fibres, dye

23

Separate yet Connected

We’ve been asked to stay home, to physically distance, but stay connected somehow. Our thoughts, feelings, and connections must become condensed to travel over the phone, email, Zoom, or Facetime. Like the game with two cans connected by string, communications can get lost or muffled. Our separate selves, depicted in the hats, are a bit wrinkly and muddled, but our colours can still shine.

The meeting and crossing of the two colours in the six foot cord shows how our messages meld and connect. This process involved white merino with white silk fabrics and silk fibres felted into hats with cords out the top. The hats were dumped into boiling vats of dye, which struck the silk and wool differently. Each hat was wrapped and scrunched on a pole (a shibori technique), dyed, and thermal shaped in black, then joined with a cord. They can be worn separate or connected.

Carmen Ditzler is a fibre artist who loves vibrant colour and playful texture. She fell deep into the world of felt twelve years ago and now has a little crooked shed studio in the Kootenays of British Columbia, Canada. She is primarily self taught, with help from workshops with international felt artists. Carmen loves to explore nature and attempts to imitate it in wool to experiment and see what will happen. Membership in felt::feutre Canada has allowed her to exhibit work in two Canadian Felt week shows and two online shows. Most recently, the whimsical footstool “Tuffet of Joy” was juried into the Felt: Fibre Transformed show in Fibre Art Now magazine. www.carmenditzler.com Facebook: hermitfelt Instagram: @carmenfelt07

Carmen Ditzler British Columbia, Canada 24

Covid-19 stopped my small family short in our tracks, stopped many of our habits.

Two of us managed isolation well, the third spilled out. But isolation also gave us many opportunities for self-reflection, changing values and new priorities. Can you apply this to society in general?

The dark raised prefelt are our habits, the wool inclusions Covid Isolation and the flat orange area is the future, with possibilities for new priorities. Gold Angelina fibres are glimmers of hope. The red yarn is the blood that connects us - both in my family and between everyone on the planet. The three wall hangings draw on techniques learned in two of Fiona Duthie's online classes: 'Surface Design' and 'Composition in Feltmaking'.

Mia Hartgroves stumbled onto felting in 2016, after a lifetime sewing garments and making clay sculptures as hobbies. She lives just outside London, England and works part time and now also felts part time in her tiny studio. Her current main focus is exploring 3D possibilities in wool. She is a firm believer that in every mistake there is potential for growth and spends time evaluating her projects.

As of May 15, I have been isolating for 53 days. I am bored, bored, bored but at the same time scared of soon going back to work in my large school. My garage is incredibly tidy and all my clothes have suddenly shrunk.

Mia Hartgroves England 25

Separate yet Connected

Past Habits, Isolation, New Priorities wool, angelina fibres 127 x 29 cm

26

2020 has been fully focussed on the spread of COVID19 throughout the world and hurtling towards Australia necessitating staying home, stepping back and taking a breath. This lockdown has enabled all populations to re-evaluate and reset their goals and expectations in life and hopefully settle on a more relaxed, creative and kind world. The planet needs this to repair and provide a healthy future for us and the generations to follow.

Lynne is a textile artist based in Canberra, Australia trading under the label Creative Silk. With a love of textiles and surface design focussing on fine, lightweight nuno felt and creating textural surfaces she experiments with a variety of fibres, painted silks and embellishment with machine embroidery. Nuno scarves and wraps a specialty.

13 x 18cm (5 x 7�) merino tencel blend, merino viscose blend, handprinted silk, shibori elements and free machine embroidery.

www.creativesilk.com.au

Lynne Sanders ACT, Australia 27

Separate yet Connected

The Rebirth cape is my interpretation of the theme Separate yet Connected regarding the impact that this time of corona virus has on each one of us. My vision and meaning of what we are experiencing now is the Rebirth from our own ashes of abuse on all levels. This is represented at the base of the cape by the flames felted with the "cracked mud" technique, inclusions embellished with machine stitching and black sand applications for the ashes to a new, higher vibrational, purified self, symbolised by the Phoenix bird, with the specific colors of light and enhanced spirituality (white, gold-orange and violet). To complete the dramatic effect and reinforce the bird concept, I used black ostrich feathers as edging with a discrete line of black sand that continues into the cracks of the flames. It can be worn as a big, luxurious shawl or as a cape, for warmth and protection, enveloping us and protecting us within, and then be opened to reveal the glory of our potential.

REBIRTH 235 x 80cm (92.5 x 31.5�) superfine merino, silk mesh, plant derived fibers, black sand, ostrich feathers

Of Romanian origin, I live and create in the beautiful island of Cyprus from the last 30 years, lucky that I didn't have to practice my profession as a mechanical engineer and grateful that I could express through my hands the strong, inner urge for art, in all its forms,that I was born with.

Always self-taught in different fields of art, I showcased my work through 5 solo exhibitions in Cyprus and a group show in Dallas, Texas. Ten years ago I discovered felting. I met Fiona Duthie and Katia Mokeyeva at their fantastic haute couture joined exhibition in Prato, Italy and the rest is history. From then on, I remained hooked on felting following their teachings, improving and evolving continuously and very happy that I could present my 10 years journey into felting through a solo exhibition last November, here in Cyprus. I am honoured that my work is appreciated and displayed in boutiques of well known hotels. www.cristinacountas.com Facebook: Cristina Countas'designs Instagram: @cristinacountas

Cristina Countas Cyprus 28

No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; - John Donne The island is a perfect metaphor for our lives in a pandemic. Although we may feel like islands currently, so much holds us together. I wanted to make a piece that showed an island connected.

Elen Bukzin Castleberry has been felting for about 4 years now. She has taken a number of classes, with Eva Camacho, Nancy Ballesteros, Beth Marx, Renate Maile Moskowitz, Robbin Firth and Janet King. Also a number of online classes with Fiona Duthie, Katia Mokeyeva and Pam De Groot. Elen loves the organic process in felting.. You create your piece, but then the wool takes over. Wool is a bit like clay. you touch it, rub it, manipulate it. Each piece is a bit of a surprise at the end.

Ellen works from her home studio in Chico, California.

Elen Bukzin Castleberry California, USA 29

Separate yet Connected

43 x 26� hand dyed margilan silk, merino wool, sumi-e ink, silk velvet

30

75 cm across, 18 cm deep (30” across, 7” deep)

31

Separate yet Connected

The white circle is made of Finnish wool, the spikes are merino and the threads are silk. Wool is an excellent material to express safety and cosiness.

The circle stands for this world of ours, suffering from a pandemic. The disease does not discriminate. The spikes are humans in different colours for our uniqueness. We are connected by means of multi - coloured threads that show our rich connectedness, but some are cut. I have tried to express the positive side of the pandemic: we do still have each other. Though we cannot meet or give a hug, we can skype, write and phone.

I have been in this lockdown from the fourteenth of March - 63 days as of May 15, 2020. I am grateful for being secured by a good national healthcare system and for the textile artist's gift that allows me to express feelings in my work. A fine outlet in these difficult times.

Lucie Haentjens lives in Flanders, Belgium. Her works vary from wall hangings to three-dimensional objects. She always works with natural materials; wool – silk – cotton – flax.

Nature is often her inspiration, expressed conceptually or in abstract form. At other times she will convey her own feelings and responses through her work. Lucie has been felting for twenty years.

Her colour palette varies from sober -even totally white- to very colourful. Her work is authentic, colourful and monumental. Lucie’s work is included in the book 'Worldwide Colours of Felt' published by Ellen Bakker, 2016. www.beeld.be/kunstenaars/lucie-haentjens

Lucie Haentjens Belgium 32

I have coped with the great uncertainty of the past weeks by making a garment: fragile and tattered near the hem, with filaments of shiny viscose clinging to wisps of wool; torn apart up the seam, yet holding strong. It echoes my personal ordeal-burning bridges on my long term relationship. My colour palette is symbolic. Black-darkness, merely the absence of light; light shining through stained glass windows.

Red-heart, love: how much have I seen in the past weeks? How much have I sent? Blue-washing over the blackness like The Water of Life.

And so I looked to the heavens. There, above my weakness and emotional frailty, is my faith. Strong and protective, like a father’s arms around my shoulders; understated at first glance, yet full of complex patterns and rich textures. Connected at the neckline, the cape and dress merge into folds of strong, warm felt. What was torn is mended.

“I was born into a family of artists; I was born an artist-- only I took the wrong path and it has taken me nearly 50 years to begin.” It is only three years ago that Jan, who grew up on a sheep farm, started making felt and working with wool. With a mum who steeped fleeces in plant dyes on the stove top, an artist grandmother who also wove tapestries, and an aunt with a studio full of looms, it seemed inevitable. She is now living between sea and mountains on the West Coast of New Zealand, in a remote part of the world, a place to dip out of everyday life and indulge in creative meanderings. www.llomahfelt.wixsite.com Facebook: lomahfelt

Jan Fraser New Zealand 33

Separate yet Connected

34

Stay in Your Bubble 26cm (10.25�) diameter wool, silk

35

Separate yet Connected

In March 2020, the Chief Health Officer of British Columbia, Canada, urged us to “stay in our bubble,” to practice social distancing to keep ourselves, our loved ones, and our fellow citizens safe during the pandemic. Repeatedly, she reminded us to “be safe, be kind, and be calm” — a reassuring mantra in extraordinary times.

My work represents experiences of living in a bubble — of being both trapped and wrapped in an isolating space, of being alone or with family, of being anxious and resilient. And as the turquoise ball leaves its bubble, of feeling both trepidation and hope.

Kathryn Grafton has been felting for two years, taking courses from Pam de Groot and Fiona Duthie and practising composition with an online community of felters. Colour is her inspiration, the starting point for all her projects. Many of Kathryn’s pieces focus on mental wellbeing: she experiments with movement both effortless and effortful, with form both in and out of balance. She lives and felts in North Vancouver, Canada, on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples.

Kathryn Grafton

British Columbia, Canada 36

The idea for this backpack was to represent everyone tucked safely inside, staying home for others. The size of this bag is 14”x19” and was created with Norwegian C1-P wool. This wool is soft but strong. It is meant to protect what is valued and represents our community staying home. At home we have had time to think about how to show our care deeply for those we love, those in our community and in the world. Some of the patches of silk have heart inclusions safely tucked away while others are empty. This represents the confusion of some States in the US opening and some not. I find this concerning for health care workers and those at risk. Some shapes overlap, representing our connectedness. Doing what we can to show love, care and compassion for all. Acts of kindness and collaboration bring great hope.

Leslie Cervenka/Bluebird Woolen Arts is a fiber artist who lives in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. The quiet of the winter, online classes and her creative spirit are what led her to learn more about the art of felting. Leslie finds inspiration from her Scandinavian heritage, folk art, children’s art, nature and the limitless possibilities of the wet felting process. She especially enjoys collaborating with her husband, Tom. His fine woodworking skills compliment her art.

Leslie is a cooperative member of the Artistree Gallery in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin USA where she sells most of her work.

Leslie Cervenka Wisconsin, USA 37

Separate yet Connected

Norwegian C1-P wool, silk

38

“May the gratitude in my heart kiss all the universe.” by Hafiz I repeated these words over and over while sewing fabric masks for my niece and her coworkers, nurses at our local hospital. I was grateful knowing that I have a skill and the means to help.

With each cut of the fabric and each stitch I took I knew I was kissing my part of the universe.

My vessel, “Connect the Dots” is constructed from the waste fabric of the masks and Swiss Mountain sheep batts. My vessel represents our universe. The dots within the fabric represent people. The people are entwined with felted cords, which are the roots of our universe. We are separate individuals, rooted, helpful, thoughtful and creative. These abilities allow us and keep us connected.

Debbie Denard lives in Ontario, Canada. A retired dairy farmer that now has time to absorb herself in the world of textile. She’s an avid spinner, knitter, weaver and presently passionate with felting. Felting gives her the ability to transform an animal's coat into a beautiful functional object. The process of creating with fibre, water, soap and her hands stimulates many possibilities for unique designs in functional and wearable art. She’s attended several workshops with internationally renowned instructors. Her work has been showcased at Sybil Frank Gallery, Wellington, Ontario. She’s a seasonal participant at the Wellington’s Farmers Market, Holly Jolly Holiday Market and Busy Hands.

Debbie Denard

Facebook: Sweetpea383 Instagram: @sweetpea383

Ontario, Canada 39

Separate yet Connected

Hearts’ Embrace 60 x 31cm (24 x 12”) merino wool, papers, hand painted silk, beads, thread, permanent markers, aged driftwood

This challenge suggested all I feel separated from, the loss of everyday connection, in the most ordinary of ways, with family and friends and the more permanent loss of those who have passed. The past is behind me, softened with time, but still colored with bright happy moments interspersed with sadness, as life is wont to go. Memories occur in loops, spirals, random moments and blank spaces affected by the current situation.

The 26 beads on the heart represent those who were part of my life and have died. From the young to those at the end of a long life, each had an influence and I hold them always in my hearts’ embrace. Ahead a future unfolding; I embrace hope and the anticipation of personal re-connection. Until then, I hold each person close in heart and thought, the calm of the ocean soothing, waiting with open arms.

Drawn to textiles and fibre from an early age, Kathleen’s introduction to felting presented her with the ideal world of opportunity to combine all she loved; the possibilities were endless and there was no going back!

Fortunate to learn from and be inspired by respected felting teachers, artists and like-minded creators, Kathleen is happiest going on an adventure and creating something in her very full room of treasured “stash”. Kathleen Drinkwater, based in Qualicum Beach, BC, is surrounded by the beauty of an ever-changing vista of inspiration. Kathleen belongs to the Mid Island Surface Design Group and the Oceanside Fibre Connections Group and has had the privilege of having work included in various Vancouver Island exhibitions.

Kathleen Drinkwater British Columbia, Canada

40

Ties That Bind

Ties that Bind is a table runner that has handspun and novelty yarns running the whole length of the runner. They at times crisscross each other and are corded together and interwoven with circles then once again are separated out. The symbolism of the individual strands, the circles and the celtic knots show how we are individuals yet are interwoven in our relationships with family, friends and acquaintances.

Sue Smalley has been felting for four and a half years. When she married just prior to that she found a barn full of Romney fleeces that needed to be used in some way. She has always loved fiber and fabrics and so felting was a natural outgrowth. The color palette that the Romneys offer naturally are a primary feature in her work, though she also experiments with natural dyes, using plants grown on the farm (and Kool-Aid). She has sold her items at the Winter Market locally and entered her pieces in the local fairs and the Black Sheep Gathering. www.aspendalefarm.com

Sue Smalley Idaho, USA 41

Separate yet Connected

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have enjoyed the idea of working on a past creation to connect it to the present and uncertain future with a new interpretation. Two years ago, my village celebrated its 60th birthday with an exhibition ”Connections” by local artists. My submission’s title, “A-dam-A”, is a wordplay with 3 Hebrew words: Adam--human, Dam--blood, and Adama--soil, or land. The background fabric, hand-made with natural fibres and colours, reflects my connections to my community, country and family. The addition of the coronavirus element, the dots and stitches reflect today’s virtual connections and my present feelings--dreaming of physical contact in days of social distancing and confinement.

I am honored to connect felt with sashiko threads together with the intermittent led lights into something harmonious. It is my way to connect different, separate cultures, countries, traditions and modern times, like we are separate yet connected in our global world.

A.Dam.A 120 x 60cm (47 x 23.5”)

Caroline Noach was born in France and moved to Israel more than 20 years ago. She lives in a rural area and feels connected to nature, the environment and the seasons. She is a veterinarian and works in a pharmaceutical company. Ten years ago, she started her creative journey with mosaic that gave new life to furniture and walls in her house. She likes repurposing, fixing, recycling, mending old into new. She discovered wool and the art of felting four years ago and now felts almost daily. She enjoys wet felting mainly to make wearables and jewelry, but also vases and bags. Recently, she added eco-printing and embroidery to her repertoire.

Instagram: @lavodine

Caroline Noach Israel

42

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

- Mahatma Gandhi.

“Allow me to introduce myself, although you already know me by reputation.

I am Pan Demic. Pan = all, Demic = people.

Gaze at me with fear, loathing, distrust—or worse, ignore me. My gender is nonexistent or PAN-existent: neither he nor she, but all.

Stand me up, I am 6 feet vertical, or lay me down, 6 feet horizontal: the degree of separation you must distance yourself from my influence.

I have no hands to reach you, but your hands will do my work, I have no lungs, but your breath will do my work. I live as a representation, but you are in the world, and you —without restraint—will do my work.

You have lived long and fearless, but hear me, fear me, know me: I want to be your friend.

We are all separate, yet connected!”

- Amy Rouse Deb Koesters is a traveling fiber artist. She has a wanderlust and enjoys all things fiber related. She creates and teaches art, and enjoys traveling the world to visit, admire and learn about different arts and cultures. A hairstylist for forty years, she has been sculpting with hair on the head form and is now enjoying working with wool in many forms. Deb has had work published in ``Worldwide Colours of Felt”,

by Ellen Bakker, and ”Stories of the Trees”, exhibition catalogue, Fiona Duthie. She has received multiple awards for her work, in 2019 winning the Best of Show award in Fine Line Art, Uncommon Threads, St. Charles, IL and in 2017, being the overall winner in the ArtWear Biennial Fashion Show, Fort Collins, CO. www.feltersforte.com Facebook: Feltersforte

Deb Koesters Iowa, USA 43

Separate yet Connected

Pan-Demic 183 x 66 x 23cm (72 x 26 x 9�)

Armature: foam, metal, core wool, cheviot and merino roving Prefelts: Uzbek silks, silk hankies, viscose roving 44

Colony merino, C1/Pelsull, mulberry paper, wool nepps & slubbs, eyelash yarn, silk gauze, rocks 40 x 45 x 15cm (16 x 17.75 x 6�)

45

Separate yet Connected

These little seaside creatures – podolites – are hardy individuals who can certainly exist on their own, but whose lives are greatly enriched by being members of a colony. They are bound together in their community through ties of heritage and family relationships, through living and socializing together, and have come to rely on one another. Similarly, this seemingly-isolated colony is in fact connected to other podolites and other species through their shared belonging to the wider ecosystem.

Structurally, all the components of the piece – the paperfelt podolites, the felted water, the real rocks – are separate entities, but they are all part of a single cohesive piece. The creatures’ bodies and shells may appear to be separate but each podolite is one three-dimensional piece, with infolding to separate the parts.

Tuula has been exploring felting for ten years. Drawing on a rich background in biology, cartography, and horticulture, she finds inspiration for felting projects in nature’s patterns, forms, plants and creatures. Tuula is intrigued by both the myriad surface textures possible with felt and by the construction of three-dimensional pieces.

With the recent addition of paper – a long-time love – to her range of materials, she is excited to be delving into the structural and surface possibilities it adds to wool.

During this unprecedented period of staying home and news-obsession, Tuula finds the physical and tactile handiwork of felting to be a much-needed respite from the digital world and a healthy connection to the here and now.

Facebook: IFeltThatbyTuula

Tuula Talvila Ontario, Canada 46

We Are All Part of the Whole 23 x 51 x 51cm (9 x 20 x 20�)

Norwegian C1/Pelsull Wool and Merino Wool Each panel represents a different family group and can also be interpreted as people living on the 6 populated continents, all connected by a Universal Source. I used different colors for each group as symbols of different cultures. As countries of the world are made up of rich and varied cultures, families develop their own rich and varied cultures. We are all joined together in one world.

Cathy Vigor is a fiber artist who specializes in surface design and utilizes the designs in 2-D and 3-D wet felted pieces and one of a kind fabrics in Encaustic paintings. She resides in Lexington, KY where she maintains a studio at Main and Walton Artist Studios.

Cathy Vigor Kentucky, USA 47

Separate yet Connected

The discomforts and difficulties of social isolation are represented in this abstract piece of fringing within a circle, constrained or locked in by a rectangle. The fringing is Separate yet Connected, symbolizing individuals, families, groups and communities who have been forced to remain apart during this time but have also devised ways to come together. This piece experiments with fixed fringing and prefelt shapes. The fixed but free nature of the fringing invites much musing about how it could be manipulated, tied, stitched, knotted and connected. Unique shapes are formed and shadows are cast by the hanging unfettered individual pieces.

Roped In 62 x 45cm (24.5 x 17.75�)

Robyn lives in Sydney, NSW, Australia. She has only recently become engrossed by wet felting. Wonderful wet felting courses with Moy McKay, Pam de Groot, Rae Woolnough and Helen McRitchie were interspersed with lots of stitching and mixed media work, with the intention to do more felting. She has completed several online courses with Fiona Duthie, and is now completely hooked. Robyn has exhibited stitched works in galleries, in both juried and member exhibitions and in 2019 sold her first pieces. One of her felted 3D pieces is included in an exhibition in Sydney, Australia, now postponed to September.

Robyn Eves

New South Wales, Australia 48

Intertwined driftwood, corriedale wool

49

Separate yet Connected

During the coronavirus pandemic I self isolated in our home, overlooking the beach. I have been finding this period of self isolation quite calming and stabilising. The relationships that really matter to me have been intensified. As an immigrant, I am very grateful for the communication options we have during these unusual times. I am talking to my overseas family more often than I have before.

Every day I walk on the beach and I found this gnarly piece of grape vine that had washed up after a big storm. When I found it, it had all sorts of things attached to it as if they couldn’t get let go of each other; blue bottles, seaweeds and grasses and more all entangled in the grape vine. It represented to me what we were all longing for, to be entwined with others, sticking by each other and reaching out where we can. The blue bottle strings represent the internet we are all webbed into to communicate with each other. The lights represent life and connectedness.

One can’t do without the other.

Petra Hilsen is a felt-maker working in Newcastle, Australia. She loves the design and structural abilities wool offers. The therapeutic benefits are awesome. Petra was born in Germany and came to Australia in 1982. She is a qualified civil engineer and worked for over 20 Years in early childhood management and 7 years for a business improvement association. She was always interested in textiles, first watching her grandmother who was a talented seamstress making clothes and her mother knitting socks and vests. She made clothes for her dolls and dabbled in dress making.

During university, she took up spinning, weaving and dyeing of wool. Wool became her favourite medium. In late 2014 during a particularly stressful situation at work she took up felt making. Today she is working as a felt-maker and couldn't be happier. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Newcastle.

Facebook: petrahilsentextiledesign Instagram: @petra_hilsen_felt

Petra Hilsen

New South Wales, Australia 50

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

“Love is the bridge to everything.” - Rumi I love making felt and making felt is what I do every spare minute I get. In the doing of what I love lies my connection to community (physical and virtual) and to my heart Isolating and working from home has, whilst separating me from my routine, afforded me additional and much coveted time for connecting with what I love. Ikea, one of the few stores still open at the beginning of these peculiar times, provided me with an unexpected but perfect, blank canvas for this little series: a set of 3 simple, cylindrical glass vases. My, by now rather extensive, collection of fibre and paper samples supplied the building blocks for the three pieces. The use of paper connects them all. Together, they assume a new form, create connections, become a kaleidoscope of possibilities, make magic.

Joseph Campbell says: “Follow your bliss.” Making felt is Tanja’s bliss. Originally trained as an architect, then becoming a Kinesiologist, Tanja has now worked as a social worker for many years. Architecture has taught her the importance of solid foundations; but through working with clients, she has come to understand that nothing holds up the fabric of creation better, uplifts and heals more, than joy, humour, fun and kindness. In this magic territory her art thrives. Tanja has usurped the dining room of her tiny home in Melbourne and conjures her creations on the family’s former dining table. She knows that she has caught the essence of a piece, when a laugh bubbles up from her belly.

Facebook: SmileWorks Instagram: @smileworks

Tanja Gawin Victoria, Australia 51

Separate yet Connected

52

53

Separate yet Connected

My feelings during the last 54 days spent in a bubble with just my husband, Peter, and myself have been like a pendulum, swaying from fear of the virus to enjoyment of simply relaxing without guilt during this slower pace of life.

My work illustrates the global effect of the virus and being isolated within our own bubbles. For some, the purity of the white pods represent wellness and light. For others there is darkness and despair as the virus is in the midst, a dangerous intruder. We feel isolated living apart, but the umbilical cords of care and nurture link us together and support each other.

The apparent fragility of the lace canopy of our community is deceptively strong. It offers security, enfolding everyone as the cords of connection entwine with each other.

My hope is the viewer will recognize their own role in building connections with others to help them in this time of adversity.

Coral Phillips is a keen felter from Te Awamutu, New Zealand who loves to learn. Felting for her is a creative interlude from the technical environment of her accountancy profession. In 2015 she met Fiona Duthie and thereafter developed a great passion for the amazing artistry of felt. She thrives on the comradery of the online felting community throughout the world as well as sharing her skill and ideas locally. Enjoying the design process, and with careful choice of colour and embellishments, she adds interesting textures to produce beautiful practical objects. This challenge has been an exciting opportunity for Coral, being her first work which represents a story to be told.

Coral Phillips

New Zealand 54

Hear our Voices 61 x 30.5cm (24 x 12�) merino wool, kozo paper, silk georgette, sumi-e ink

As COVID-19 started to turn our lives upside down and invade our sense of security, I started to make fabric masks as a way to reclaim my space. This large felted mask is a symbol for what separates and yet connects us in our shared experiences in this extraordinary time. Our masks are in fact loving barriers that mark how much we care for one another. The circles, dashes and waves represent our voices travelling back and forth on our wifi signals. Our voices are not muffled by our masks. Rather they seem to have gained strength to loudly encourage, share, challenge, and commiserate as we traverse this new reality. As our masks are put away, we must stay connected and build something better.

Sheila Thompson is a Toronto-based fibre artist/geographer. She makes narrative felts, inspired by daily news feeds, that spark dialog about social justice / environmental impacts. She interprets the landscape of these issues as felted 2d or 3d topographic maps that deliver her commentaries via embedded historical maps, graphics, text or photos from her own work. She has been a board member of several artist run organizations, exhibited widely in Canada and co-created the textile exhibition, "Edge of the Forest", funded by the Ontario Arts Council. She is a member of Artscape Daniels Launchpad and is exploring innovative ways to develop and display her work.

Sheila Thompson Ontario, Canada 55

Separate yet Connected

Separated by distance, connected through history. My Nuno felted piece speaks to my Dutch heritage and my recent trip to Japan. When Japanese prints arrived in Europe in the late 1800’s, they influenced many artists including Van Gogh whose two paintings, Irises and Blossoming Almond Tree, are referenced in the surface decoration of this Haori. I used many techniques to create this piece, including a combination of shibori dyeing, and silk painting, taught to me by Dutch artist Ellen Bakker. The stitching is sashiko embroidery and there are seed beads under the silk to give the almond petals more depth.

Haori 140 X 70 cm (55 x 27.5�)

Halifax based, multidisciplinary artist, Liza Hageraats, enjoys the options afforded by the different media in which she creates her work.

Whether drawing, painting, felting, embroidering or rug hooking, each informs the whole of her creative output in terms of color, composition, content and execution. Her current medium of choice is felting. The lack of use of mechanical tools and the hands on technique appeals to her desire to have a tactile connection with her work. The ability to create a variety of forms and textures, from subtle to visually stunning, has taken Liza in unlimited directions. She takes her inspiration from her own cultural background as well as the cultures that she has been lucky enough to explore on her travels around the globe. Her recent trip to Japan has had a profound effect on her practice as seen in this piece.

Liza Hageraats

Nova Scotia, Canada 56

Even though we are struggling The roots of friendship, love and empathy Bind us together, From my bubble to yours.

By Lukas ( written by my 12 year old grandson for this challenge) I have involved my two grandsons 12 and 9 years of age, asking them for ideas. “A cross section of the earth “ was their reply, from their bubble in Auckland to my bubble in Westport, New Zealand . How to capture this in felt was a challenge in itself. Utilising what was available in my bubble, I used merino fibre, silk throwsters, stones, sumi ink, embroidery thread, mohair, pulled apart kitchen utensils, and installation tape. “Make the stones look like moss” the children said,”and make them more discrete; But include them in the landscape as they are part of nature.“added Oscar. The roots of the trees symbolise ”friendship, love and empathy that bind us together”, words from Lukas’s poem. The bubble with words of encouragement during this isolation period. Our individual homes from day to night.

Crafting has always been Diane Eckersley’s passion. She started her felting journey 5years ago, loving the endless possibilities of this medium. She loves to create trying different ideas, pushing her own boundaries with successes and failures. Diane has enjoyed exhibiting because of the interaction and lovely feedback she has received.

Diane Eckersley New Zealand 57

Separate yet Connected

This piece, titled “Prayer Chain,” is completely personal. The color carvings, or “scars,” represent sacrifice to me. We all are in a time of sacrifice, and it’s revealing something truly amazing. Just under the perfect surface is our authentic, beautiful mess.

The chain has three individual links which are felted interlocked, not stitched. The first link represents my best friend, who is battling ALS, the second link is my mom, who is in assisted living, and the third link is my husband, my rock. I am not able to hug or be with these two essential women in my life during this challenging time. My husband often picks up the pieces of me lying on the floor. The links represent all of these people in my life. Prayer and faith is what connects us all...separate yet connected.

Abbie is an amateur in the artistry of felting. She is obsessed with this medium, and has been pursuing it for six years. She has taught felting classes at her local co-op with an awesome response, and has also enjoyed doing commission work creating personal pieces. The versatility of felting has no borders, and Abbie is hungry to learn and expand her felting technique through classes and hands on time. The felting community has embraced her, committed to inclusion and sharing, and for that she is extremely grateful.

Abbie Oscarson Washington, USA 58

59

Separate yet Connected

As an artist I’m fascinated with exotic fibers, drawn to their ability to change the texture of wool. This material combination creates unique fabric that is both separate yet connected, benefiting from its togetherness. As I quarantined alone during the COVID-19 pandemic I felt separated yet also connected in a sense with others I do not know. We were bound together to create a new separate yet connected world order. In a metaphorical way, my tote bag served as a canvas to express the new texture this pandemic creates in our society. Tibetan yak top, silk hankie matawa silk, yak/silk, deep blue tussah silk, angora rabbit fur, aqua blue tussah silk, yak/merino top, cotton roving, cotton batting: the surface fibres can’t connect on their own, only connecting together through the long fibres of the wool. Cut from the center square is a unity circle around a single silk cocoon caught by silk margilan gauze.

Angela Ruslander, working as Lillian Rusell Designs, comes from a line of female artists who exposed her to the world of fiber arts. Three years ago she found herself drawn into the art of wet felting and started her journey exploring all of its wonders. She resides in Washington, DC and converts her small dining area into a fiber arts den. In her wet felting den hangs a butterfly wing woven by her grandmother. It’s an inspiration to her exploration of felting techniques. It also inspired her award winning piece “Grandma’s Butterflies” made as her final project for FionaDuthie surface design course. She currently writes a seasonal blog about her experiences as a novice fiber artist.

Facebook: Lillian Russell Designs

Angela Ruslander

District of Columbia, USA 60

My family is stretched around the world and like so many of us, with the aid of modern technologies, can be “connected” to one another as much as we want or need to be.

The Covid lockdowns have brought into stark focus how much we are reliant on this technology, but as time goes on and the restrictions on movement continue, also exposes how desperate we all are for physical contact with family and friends.

This work shows the joy of two people physically meeting, contrasting with the limited and passive connection afforded by the wires and incorporates techniques learnt with Molly Williams in sculpting form and Fiona Duthie through her online surface design workshops.

Sue Smorthwaite lives in Yallingup, Western Australia. Inspired by the huge potential for hand-made felt as an artistic medium and inspired by nature and objects around her, she is continuously exploring new techniques and ways of expressing the world around us through her felt. Sue has exhibited in Stories of Trees, Members Challenge in 2016; SWAN 2016 and 2018 Exhibitions, Bunbury; Teapots 12th Invitational Exhibition, Pittsburgh, USA; The Melbourne Teapot Exhibition 2019 (Winner Non-Functional Teapot Section and People’s Choice Award) and Sculpture by the Bay, Dunsborough, (Small Sculpture Prize Winner 2019) and in the South Western Times Art 2020 exhibition in Bunbury. Her work is sold through the Studio Gallery, Yallingup.

Facebook: YallingupFelt Instagram: @sue_smorthwaite_yallingupfelt

Sue Smorthwaite Western Australia

61

Separate yet Connected

55 X 33cm (22 x 13�) wire armature, merino wool, silks 62

Typically, I make hats that are somewhat whimsical, and (hopefully) attractive. Hence, creating headwear to convey the seriousness and ugliness of the Coronavirus Pandemic was difficult. I wanted to show how we live on one Earth, yet are each isolated in facing this frightening moment in our collective history. The crown of the wet felted hat resembles a globe which has stylized continents of nunofelted, silk habotai fabric. From this, sprout virus-like tentacles which have needle felted pipe cleaners (which are leftovers from making protective masks). Along the brim, there are alarmed-looking eyes, which were made using Fiona Duthie's Transfer Print Method. The very front of the hat has a stylized Firefighter's shield with an enlarged pair of the artist's eyes. Lastly, there are red glass beads to tie the disparate elements together

Juliane Gorman studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she graduated with a BFA in Textiles. Afterwards, she took millinery classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

However, like many graduates, her creative devotions hibernated while she pursued jobs and family. Twelve years ago, she saw a felted bracelet at a craft fair. Looking for a DIY book on the subject, she instead found one explaining how to make felted hats. This discovery was her eureka moment: she found a craft that combined her love of colorful fiber, with her passion for hats. From this beginning, she has since created practical and fantastical headwear under her FeltHappiness label, with hats in private collections in Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Juliane Gorman

www.felthappiness.com

Pennsylvania, USA 63

Separate yet Connected

Felted paper, sumi e ink, walnut ink, paint stick, fabric and watercolour paints When lockdown was announced I panicked because my children were elsewhere. Although all old enough to take care of themselves, I felt like if they needed me there was nothing I could do. Making this triptych was very calming, each representing one of my children. Creating the fabric of my little family, I felt connected to them in their absence. I have three sons, one with aspergers and one with ME. Two are transgender and all three are artistic, creative, and musical. I wanted to work with felted paper and use what I had at home, including sumi e ink, pebeo gold, gold markal paint stick, gelatos, water soluble neo colours and walnut distress ink. The pink, pastel blue, and white are the colours of the transgender flag. I look forward to getting these up on a wall, but not as much as seeing the people they represent.

Amanda lives in rural Cornwall, U.K. She has spent a lifetime creating things from one medium or another, but fell in love with felting just over 6 years ago. Until last year she was self taught, but has done several online courses now with Fiona Duthie, which has broadened her technique and opened a new love of learning. Amanda likes to experiment with different fibres and enjoys dyeing wool for use in her work.

Amanda Upson England

64

REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEBODY 35.5 x 25.5cm (14 x 10�) wool, mulberry paper, wooden ring

65

Separate yet Connected

When the great global confinement began six weeks ago, some of our lives changed dramatically and yet some hardly at all. The profound quietness in my neighbourhood is disquieting. We are so used to encountering neighbours and friends in the course of our daily walks and runs and errands, but now we remain apart, isolated and hidden away. It is so hard not to reach out and touch a friend, a neighbour, a dog. We are social beings and desire, possibly require talk, laughter, and physicality with others. The colourful bending tubes in my sculpture lean into each other, while still huddling together in tight safe bundles. The twisted cords in the middle of the sculpture remind us of where we were, where we might return, yet it will be a complicated path to a new world. We’re all going to be spending more time alone now. This is a time to use well, discovering new ways to connect to the world through art, music, thinking, writing, listening, walking. It is quiet enough now to think.

Debbie Katz lives and works on Pender Island, one of the jewels in the Southern Gulf Islands in the Salish Sea. For the past decade she has been creating unique pieces of felted art that explore the boundaries between art, fashion, and home decor in a fanciful and sometimes humorous way As well as offering classes in felting for adults and children on Pender Island, Debbie has also taught felting as an Artist on Board with the VIA Rail Program while travelling by train across Canada. She sells and exhibits her work at a number of galleries and shops in BC including the Audain Museum in Whistler, the BC Craft Council House on Granville Island and the Eclectic Gallery in Victoria.

Debbie Katz

British Columbia, Canada

66

merino wool, pre-felts, dyed silks, hankies, waste, mulberry, viscose This project was inspired by the beautiful capes exhibited on Fiona’s website. New to the felting world, this was my first attempt at making a garment and dyeing silks. In using what I had at hand, a circumstance of these times, I dyed the silks with food coloring. The globe at the base of my cape symbolizes COVID-19’s impact on the world, and the physical separation from loved ones. The red dots represent the messages sent and received, keeping us connected while separated, a reminder of my connection to my loved ones. The felted wool ball with romney wool represents COVID-19 transforming into the Shibori Anemone, then a flower, symbolizing my hope for the future, and appreciation for this felting community.

Janice Callahan

Janice Callahan has played around with many different mediums over the years, but none has spoken to her as much as her newfound love for felt. Like a sponge, she is trying to absorb as much as she can to make up for lost time. She feels fortunate to have the opportunity to follow along with Fiona’s online courses as she learns new techniques and explores the world of felt.

Quebec, Canada 67

Separate yet Connected

The story of this scarf begins with small groups that are separate and distant. The groups of family members that live together, and the singles or seniors that are alone in their home are all in the body of the scarf, the part closest to the person who wears it.

Surrounding the scarf are many tassels, representing friends, family, and events that are distant, yet still part of my life.

I dedicated the time needed to roll the fringe to friends and family living abroad who I will not visit this year. We are all part of the scarf, most of us separate yet connected.

38 x 130 cm (15 x 50 “) merino wool, margilan silk

Luigina Baratto was born in South America into an Italian family of artists, luthiers, painters, potters, and writers. She now lives in the second coldest capital of the world, Ottawa, Canada. She always considered herself a dabbler of the arts, never an artist. But with time and experience, Luigina now feels that she too can say something, her way. It took Luigina 64 years to realize that creating defines her, and that her creations are her art.

Facebook: baratto1r2t.com Instagram: @baratto1r2t

Luigina Baratto Ontario, Canada

68

54 x 0.64 cm (21 x 0.25�) merino, crystal beads, silk cocoons, fishing line

My creation for Separate Yet Together is a 54 cm long necklace that can be worn two ways: 1) during the separateness of the quarantine and 2) when the crisis is over and we can be together. I only used materials I had in my stash, representing a lack of contact with the outside world. In picture #1 there are seven separate cocoons, representing seven continents and a global crisis. Each cocoon was lightly decorated with wool. Each cocoon houses an isolated felt ball. The felt balls are connected to each other via thin fishing line that comes through slits in the cocoon. Although the felt balls are isolated, they are decorated, suggesting (optimistically) that while isolated it is possible to find happiness and beauty. In the second picture (when the pandemic is over) the felt balls are out of their cocoons and together on the second length of the necklace in all their glory.

Nancy Lauby is an intermediate felter who discovered this wonderful art form only a few years ago and now, through the gift of retirement, can give it more attention. She lives in Pennsylvania, USA in a remote area along the Upper Delaware river and also has a home in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

Nancy Lauby Pennsylvania, USA 69

Separate yet Connected

A bad cold in February cancelled a journey and events. When I was ready to return to social life, there wasn't any.

The last 88 days with an empty calendar has been a reminder: the human race is technically smart but not standing above the laws of nature. Let's wake up and care for each other and for the planet. The red cross is the symbol that inspired me. It represents the humanitarian self sacrificing acts of those who risk their health to help their fellow man.

The shawl, measuring 160 x 55 cm, is nunofelted with pongĂŠ, margilan silk, merino wool, inclusions and prefelt. The wool is in both dark and bright colours to represent both fear and hope in our strange situation. Mother nature, bringing us comfort, is symbolized by leaves and waves (inclusions). The embroidery of black silk thread shows the radio waves, internet, facetime and all good airborne ways to connect. Blue and bright green are seldom seen in my work but right now, I want the world to be more colourful. It's cosy to wrap around me, sitting alone on my sofa yet connected with the felting community.

Eva lives in SkĂĽne county in Sweden. She has, since childhood, had an interest in textiles, knitting, sewing, weaving and has now been an enthusiastic felter for 10 years. As shiny silk and soft merino wool are her favourites, it mostly results in nunofelted wearables that are sold at craft fairs and galleries. www.evanunotovar.vpsite.se/ Instagram: @evanunotovar

Eva Helgesson Sweden 70

Peace Amongst the Chaos

71

Separate yet Connected

Peace amongst the chaos, my take on being separated yet together. I have always done portraits of women. Their eyes were always open and the focal point of the portrait. I felt the eyes revealed a part of their story. Having her eyes closed, she separates herself and finds her inner peace amongst all the chaos we are all experiencing. The red background was used as a metaphor to represent the rapid fire of the spread of the infection. I used merino over black bergschaf wool , because I knew the bergschaf would work itself through the merino surface as it was felted. This was to portray the charred remains of our ideas of normalcy. I purposely cut her to show this virus is having an effect on her but the human spirit is stronger and will overcome.

Kimberly Pulli is located in Bath Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of Florida with a painting degree. She has received the Raising Young Artist Award, Her work has been featured in Fiber Art Now Excellence in Fiber, Summer 2019 edition, and shown at the Hunterdon Museum 2020. Kimberly’s work will be included in the magazine Felt Matters, the journal of the International Felt Association in late 2020.

Kimberly Pulli

Pennsylvania, USA 72

Fish Shoal 40 x 30cm (15.75 x 12�)

Each fish is 7 x 15cm (2.75 x 6�)

We are all different on the surface. We may think that we are separated from each other, but when it comes to basic instinct and fundamental behaviors, we are strongly connected to each other in our needs of survival.

Monica Gustafsson lives in Sweden on the outskirts of the capital, in a metropolitan environment but still rural. She has been engaged in textile crafts since she was a child. It wasn't until she tried felting, that she realized how much she truly enjoyed it. Monica loves working with wool because it is very tactile and the wool can be worked with in sculptural ways.

Monica Gustafsson Sweden 73

Separate yet Connected

My piece represents the different paths we as individuals take.

Our life path is different for everyone- some paths are short and direct, straight forward. Some paths are full of ups and downs, curves and intersections. Recently, in an online workshop I participated in, felters from around the globe got together and spent a few hours felting together. It struck me that despite the vast differences in our lives and the paths we have taken, we were united as one, even if only for a brief period of time. Our passion and love for the art of felting connected us. So maybe in essence we aren't that different after all?

Pauline first started felting 9 years ago. Living in a remote town on the far west coast of Australia, she initially scrolled the internet to learn as much as she could about this beautiful craft.

Since then she has had the fortune to attend several workshops that have broadened her skills and deepened her passion for the art. Pauline enjoys both wet felting and needle felting. On any given day, If she is not at my paid job, you will find her with her beloved dogs in her craft shed, dabbling.

Facebook: Milly-Moo-Crafts

Pauline Letham South Australia 74

‘Vulnerable, unable to continue with life’s normal daily rhythm, trapped, living in a state of indeterminate unreality’.

My response to the theme Separate Yet Connected is a simple one. A chain, individual links bound together, secure, for holding onto and letting go.

Fastened to a remote weathered mooring post, encrusted with age, witness to the ceaseless tides, arrivals and departures, from and to distant shores. A time when water was the only means of transport. I have been self isolating since 18/3, so 59 days to 15/5, 2020.

Felt Chain 6 x 50cm (2.4 x 2”)

Sue Scheller lives near the East Anglian coast of the U.K. with her husband Paul and their tabby cat Pickle. Her journey with wool started many years ago when she learnt to spin. This led onto an exploration of many textile techniques including weaving, rag rugging and dyeing her own fibres, yarns and fabrics. She has always had a passion for colour and this has featured throughout her work.

For a while now her main focus has been on felt, creating items which combine a variety of fibres including, more recently, paper often with applied surface decoration. Sue really enjoys learning new techniques with which she can further develop her own work.

Sue Scheller England 75

Separate yet Connected

I wanted to create a piece relating to the theme of connection, to what holds us together and to the idea reflected in the statement: "we are in it together", echoing through our lives - at present.

Over the last few weeks, I collected odd twigs, branches, dried out flowers and leaves and wrapped around them a tubular form, not quite a mitten or a glove, yet something that offers protection and holds all close.

I used fine merino wool and silk for their softness that represents to me both care and protection. Inclusions, prefelts and hollow tubes created using resists or bamboo skewers, all started as separate too yet ended up connected, holding this odd bunch together.

Since learning how to felt six years ago, Ela has been enchanted by wool and natural fibres which are gradually becoming her medium of choice. She is inspired by life narratives, colours, sounds, textures or the way light falls; the little studio - room in her suburban Adelaide home is not only filled with materials, but also with creative possibilities. Ela has participated in a number of The Australian Wool Museum Scarf Festivals, winning the felted category in 2018 for a piece entitled "Layered Land".

92 x 26cm merino wool, silk

Ela Samoraj South Australia 76

cotton batting, nepps, cotton scrim, margilan silk, locks, rope

As we humans have always been separated by geography, race, religion and culture, I didn’t want this piece to focus on COVID-19. However, as I created each of the elements I realised that in a strange way the coronavirus has connected the human family together. Each of the elements was made separately, then wet felted onto a base, connecting it together. I wanted the piece to be as textural as possible, representing the mountains, oceans, and perceptions that separate us. The cotton batting and nepps were my visual representation of the coronavirus which has both separated and connected us.

The piece was gradually built up in layers of cotton scrim, cotton batting, margilan silk, locks, nepps, and even a piece of old rope. The piece was mainly wet felted using a variety of felting techniques.

Finally I added some stitching to give a bit more definition to the textural quality.

Kate is an emerging textile artist with just a couple of local exhibitions on her profile. She started felting about four years ago as an adjunct to working with yarn and textiles and quickly became “hooked� on nuno felt. She mainly concentrates on practical, individual garments, scarves, or bags, but as she explores her own creativity she has recently started producing wall art and more expressive pieces. Seeking more textural components to her work, she has started to experiment with adding other elements such as hand spun yarn, Tyvek, beads, ink and a variety of fabric. As an educator she enjoys teaching others and has held local workshops and created learner videos which can be found on her blog.

Kate Niblett

katesfelt.blogspot.com

Queensland, Australia 77

Separate yet Connected

Yoloxochitl is a compound word from Nahuatl, an ancient Native tongue from Central Mexico, made of two other words: heart (yolotl) and flower (xochitl). In pre-Columbian times it was used to allude to something precious, an offering worthy of gods. After the Spanish conquest, and the coming of Roman Catholicism, the heart remained a powerful symbol and acquired new meanings in poetry, religion and visual culture. Because of the strength of both Indigenous and Catholic traditions in present-day Mexican culture, the heart, either in its anatomic or graphic form, winged or in flames, is widely used to represent divine as well as earthly love, and to wish good luck and protect its bearer. On this piece, a mixture of wool and embroidery is used to give this heart its own roots, a bond to an apparently barren land hiding life on its inside, which allows for it to flourish.

Yoloxochitl 45 x 46.5 cm (17.75 x 18.25�) merino and jacob wool, margilan silk, cotton and silk threads

Paula Mues Orts is an art historian, teacher and independent researcher, with a special background in curatorial projects for different museums. For the last three and a half years, she has been attracted to textile art for its proximity to body and the senses, and its possibilities to express emotion and thought. She has explored wet felting and embroidery as her preferred means to achieve new and exciting mixtures of color and texture, and to convey through textile objects and garments the lessons learned from years of studying images, art and the process of creation.

Paula Mues Orts Mexico

78

The theme of separate yet connected can be interpreted in so many ways as I think all of nature has separate elements that are connected to the whole. I wanted to create a connection between people in some form.

I really like ceramic figurines and wanted to try to make one in felt. I decided to make a simple felt statue depicting the special connection of a mother and her baby. The baby is encircled in the mother’s arms and though separate in this case is connected with a press stud. The base has a rock inside so that the figure can stand alone.

Jeanette is a maker and has been felting for around five years after seeing a picture of colourful felt by Elizabeth Armstrong in a magazine and sourcing a workshop in Melbourne. Soon after Jeanette experienced a time without work and found felting to be therapeutic. She has since attended many workshops and most of Fiona’s online classes to develop her skills. Since retiring in September last year Jeanette now lives on a golf course at McCracken in South Australia, with her felting studio (aka kitchen/living room) overlooking the 6th green and rolling hills. It is a beautiful setting with great light. Jeanette likes to include recycled fabrics in her work mostly creating scarves, garments and art pieces. She sells some items in the local gallery.

Jeanette Russell South Australia 79

Separate yet Connected

The felted piece was made to help us remember our time in isolation over Easter. The wools used for the ‘stained glass’ include deeply coloured, mostly, Merino wools blended with silk.

The silks shimmer within the dark colours to make it look like sunlight poking through. For the cross a single layer of Habotai silk was put over a white wool base.

A few plastic beads were placed between the wool and silk to show the bumpy time we are all going through. The intention of this piece was to convey that all of us are separated at this time but still joined together by the black thrumming wool that acts as glue, the cross acts as our moral compass, and the palm leaves indicate we will be victorious through these times.

Catharine has been felting for six years. She enjoys the limitless possibilities there are with wool, creating wall hangings, clothes, three-dimensional objects, and more. She has shown her work locally in the town of Deep River, ON and she has joined up with two other groups that have exhibited her work in Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley. She is inspired to create by what she sees in her surroundings and by her experiences with current events.

Her whole house is her studio with creations, moving from inside to outside with the seasons.

Two palm branches - 33 x 100cm (13 x 39”) Cross within stained glass - 43 x 90cm (17 x 36”) One palm branch - 40.6 x 104cm (16” x 41”) merino wool, merino/silk blend, habotai silk, plastic beads

Catharine Colotelo Ontario, Canada

80

merino wool, habotai silk, curly locks, beads, sumi ink, and yarn

81

Separate yet Connected

I started this with a different approach to my usual practice in that I had no plan for what I wanted to do. The pandemic and the accompanying restrictions have disrupted our schedules and the way we can approach our work. Having been under a very stressful show season I used this unexpected free time to just enjoy and play with a color that was energetic and uplifting. I included craters that I beaded, covered cords, balls, and sumi ink. I also incorporated yarn and mohair locks and created a channel in the collar to run a silk ribbon through, building in connection through beauty.

Sara Hoffland began felting about ten years ago and loves making garments.

She enjoys doing fine art shows where she can introduce the art of nuno felting to so many art patrons who have never seen it before and are fascinated by the process! Sara has a passion for fiber. She loves to feel it, work with it, and wear it.

She also loves fashion and has found a way to fuse these two by creating works of wearable fiber art. Sara’s designs have been described as unique, different, and unusual which is what she strives for. www.knittygrittybysara.com Facebook: knittygrittybysara.hoffland

Sara Hoffland Florida, USA 82

I chose to make a long sleeveless vest for the Separated but Connected theme. Like many people, I was uninspired to be creative due to the repercussions of the pandemic.

The shows to which I had applied were cancelled and the galleries where my work is available were closed. Feeling isolated, this challenge has given me purpose to be creative and use my skills. I longed for something pretty, elegant and free flowing, like our world before COVID 19. The godets added the flair to this piece which I named “Layla” meaning woman of the night. I chose this name because without the touch of family and friends much of the light of life has been dimmed. The color, aubergine, portrays a springtime tulip emerging from the dormant winter ground which gives hope for life to continue.

Elaine Haag is a novice in the world of art after a career in federal law enforcement (US Secret Service) and serving overseas with her husband on four assignments. Retirement has given her the opportunity to explore the arts. Her love for felting began when she saw a nuno felted scarf on the internet more than ten years ago. She took a beginner felting class and her journey continues today. As a member of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, Elaine has grown as an artist by taking classes and participating in fine art shows. In 2019, she submitted work to be juried and achieved Master Artisan status. Elaine’s work has been selected for Pennsylvania’s Art of the State exhibition at The State Museum in 2020.

Elaine Haag Pennsylvania, USA 83

Separate yet Connected

84

My Separate Yet Connected piece represents tectonic plates of our planet earth.

Tectonic plates are in constant flux just like our human lives. As they build up pressure from their motion against one another, one plate builds up intolerable pressure which causes a tsunami. I attempted to show this event on the front of my vest. The back of my vest symbolizes rushing dynamic waves of a tsunami, which I compare to the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus is much smaller than a tectonic plate, but they both have a powerful effect on humanity.

Helga Yaillen lives in Laguna Beach, California. Since the beaches closed due to the pandemic, she misses her walks and sitting watching the waves. She uses felting to overcome this longing, which she started eight years ago at age 70. With the nuno felting procedure using tepid water and soap to manipulate wool and silk, the pain vanishes from her arthritic fingers, substituted by the excitement and miracle of transforming silk and wool into a garment. For seven years Helga has exhibited in the Laguna Beach Sawdust Art Festival, visited by people from all over the world. Her garments and accessories are one of a kind, drawing on her fine art education in color and design, used in her paintings prior to her disability interfering with holding a brush. www.helgafelt.com

Helga Yaillen California, USA 85

Separate yet Connected

My chaotic brightly colored blouse symbolizes a journey in resilience. I started this piece as I discovered my true fragility, in a crisis of health I needed its preoccupation from fear and the joyous coloration to help me through what was traumatic. Although physically able to design and layout the work, I wasn’t able to finish it. A nurse helped me to take the damp piece, roll it up, where it would wait for me to hopefully rehab. Almost a year later, surgery and healing began and I started felting again.

The coloration had been established and in my new hesitant relaxed life, I was able to bring to completion the chaos that I had left unfinished. This piece is about before and after, like these times of pandemic. The before is filled with uncertainty and fragility, and the after is moving into strength but still with so many unknowns. One piece of work that bridges two very different periods.

Hence �separate, yet connected� has real meaning for me.

Janellen Radoff, as VP of Design for Wynn Hotels, designed rooms, suites, villas, shops, convention rooms and corridors, showrooms, corporate airplanes, residences, etc. She enjoyed lots of far ranging colorations, fabric and trim details, finishes, and the coordination to accomplish it all. Retirement has allowed all of her exposure to the excitement of commercial design to follow her into her new life of felting. Janie lives in Las Vegas with her children and most of the grandkids still close to her. What a blessing to watch each of them display his/her creativity in various ways!

Janellen Radoff Nevada, USA 86

62 x 46cm (24.5 x 18�) wire armature, merino wools, silks, paper

87

Separate yet Connected

I wanted to represent precisely this virus that has changed our lives. The virus entered our lives with arrogance, breaking all security; it split our world creating deep grooves around us. Many went away in the night. We were forced into isolation, but life is stronger, the light is stronger. In solitude we looked inside ourselves. We finally had time to stop and look and think, and we reconnected first with ourselves, with our soul, and understood what really matters, and then with others, the ‘nature’ we look at now with different eyes. Life is stronger!

Cristina Poma lives in Bergamo, Italy. Though she does not define herself as an artist, creating is a part of her she could not live without. She fell in love with felt and its infinite possibilities three years ago through Fiona Duthie's online courses. She is fascinated by colors, natural fibers, and paper that when combined with wool, can create everything imaginable: a vase, a lamp, a sculpture, a wall hanging, garments, jewelry! She loves experimenting with materials, drawing inspiration from shapes, nature, a particular light or atmosphere. Cristina works at home in her studio with the lights of the city. She has always created for herself and friends, and has sold her creations in local creative and artistic fairs.

Cristina Poma Italy 88

We are all on a journey together but it is different for everyone.

I choose a cowl as it is a garment that gives comfort as it encircles the neck. The pandemic has circled the world, binding us together, even as we have to separate, as we face a common foe.

When unrolled the cowl resembles a map.

The red dotted line depicts the road we travel. It encircles the cowl, travelling through quieter open parts where people are isolated, keeping social distance and separated by the road we are all travelling. There is also an area of chaos depicted by criss crossing lines.

Confusion occurs and sends our daily life and routines into a spin.

Heather Brimblecombe lives in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, in Victoria, Australia. She was first attracted to felting in 2014 and has attended workshops with local and international tutors. She loves the many possibilities of felt - colour, form, texture and structure combined with beautiful tactile properties.

And most of all she loves the unexpected outcomes that often occur in feltmaking.

Heather has exhibited, won awards, and sold work at local and state art shows and has had work published in the Australian magazine Felt. Heather is a member of the Baw Baw Arts Alliance and the International Feltmakers Association. Her work is available for sale at the Station Gallery, Yarragon in Victoria, Australia.

Heather Brimblecombe Victoria, Australia 89

Separate yet Connected

The Journey 75.5 x 26cm (30 x 10.25�) lying flat merino wool, tissue and paj silk fabrics

90

merino wool, eco-printing, yarn, paper

91

Separate yet Connected

Finches are a great source of inspiration to me. They return to the same nesting and breeding spot every year, to announce the start of Spring. A flock will share the same tree, like we share neighborhoods. Together they weave their nests, lay their eggs and raise the chicks. With great gusto they twitter and chatter all day, without the slightest inclination of how revitalizing their frantic energy is. I am fortunate to welcome them back every year to an old Oak tree right in front of my porch. I used mulberry paper, merino wool with eco printing for color and running stitches for texture.

Gerda Mohr is a thread and fibre dabbler from Hermanus, South Africa. She grew up in a make do and mend family and has always been creative. She is an avid embroiderer and slowly moved to felting about 10 years ago. She loves combining threads and felt. She teaches hand embroidery and has given many talks and demonstrations on both subjects and has taken part in various local exhibitions over the years. Gerda is immensely grateful to have learned from master craftswomen from all over the world.

Gerda Mohr South Africa

92

When I started making this piece, two main thoughts came to my mind. The theme of Separate yet Connected reminded me that despite the hard truth of being unable to travel to Mexico and hug my family and friends, love holds a force that is so strong, and manages to make me feel connected to my loved ones, regardless of the distance. The second thing that came to my mind was a place where I used to live in Mexico. Where the dry season causes the earth to dry up and crack. However, after many long months of heat and dryness, the rain finally comes, causing dazzling flowers to flourish and spread their beauty all over. Just like nature, I know that in hard times like now, it too shall pass. Eventually, there will be good and beauty that will blossom from these uncertain and difficult times.

Strength of Love 63.5 x 81cm (25 x 32�) merino wool, silk, silver beads

Monica Maya was born and raised in Mexico. In 2006, she moved to Canada with her family. Her first contact with wool was through the Waldorf school that her children attended. Instantly, she fell in love with felting and felt incredibly inspired to explore her creativity with textiles. Her work with wool has varied. She started with needle felting and wearables, and recently has been more focused on making wall art. In her art, one can notice her vibrant colours that have a strong representation to her Mexican roots and divine culture. One also sees the combination of her soft and harmonious designs, which she is inspired by the wonderful nature of British Columbia, where she is happy to call home.

Monica Maya British Columbia, Canada 93

Separate yet Connected

Hi I'm TP, 5 years old and love everything about toilet paper.

Did you know you can play indoor soccer, build furniture and learn your numbers with toilet paper? Isn't that AWESOME! Something is going on in the whole world right now that has to do with a pan or an iris but I'm really not sure.

All I know is I am spending way more time with my mom indoors. I overheard my mom say there was no toilet paper in the stores. I had an upset stomach and nightmares for a whole week! My mom told me there is enough toilet paper for everyone if people just buy what they need. I even had to kick down my toilet paper princess castle because my family needed some! Lots of people must be buying just what they need now because this week there was lots in the stores. WHEW!

TP 38 x 39 x 61cm girth (15 x 15.4 x 24�)

When creating felt, Lynn is energized and a tad obsessive by the endless possibilities. She loves the online learning community and has taken 10 classes. She has studied with Fiona Duthie, Pam de Groot, and Katia Mokeyeva. Lynn likes working with silks and is always experimenting with texture while widening her range of colour values and combinations. Her work is detailed, vibrant, and playful. She especially enjoys making garments and hopes someday her pieces will be half as creative as our Canadian treasure: Fiona Duthie. Lynn lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and has been felting from her basement studio and her dining room for 2.5 years.

Lynn Guina

Saskatchewan, Canada 94

silk gauze, silk habotai, sumi-e ink, merino wool, pencil roving

95

Separate yet Connected

This dress is an expression in felt design of how we all live encapsulated in our own worlds, living separately as a single sphere yet we are all connected by a common umbilical cord we call humankind coming together for the preservation of humanity in this time of global crisis. My feelings during the pandemic situation has reinforced my gratitude for being Canadian and living in this amazing country…… we call home.

Lisa lives in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Lisa has been felting for two years, fascinated with the magical process and freedom to express her creativity with the mediums of wools and silks through garment design. Lisa has attended workshops with Fiona Duthie, Charity Van de Meer, Janet King, Ulrieke Benner and Laurie Steffler; she has also taken many of Fiona Duthie’s on-line courses.

Lisa Forbes

British Columbia, Canada 96

A shawl for my sister. The edges of the most delicate silk felted together using pencil roving. It’s a sheer garment designed for hot weather. The seams were prone to fail initially, and a lot did fail while felting because there was such small overlap for adherence.

The failed seams are stitched together, secured in place. I strategically placed a line of white wool on the side seam - to mark a trail for my scissors, like crumbs for Gretel. At the finish, a cut was made along the white line to open up the piece again, allowing for free movement. That’s how this garment came together. A number of thoughts ran through my head while stitching it together. I didn’t write them down - though one continually resonated: We know the way. We’ll get together, whatever it takes.

In 5 years of wet felting, Susan Lime has gone from curious beginner to making living room accommodations for her wet felting studio and large collection of natural fiber. “Wet felting has become a blessed escape from the office - a therapeutic art practice that reminds me that anything is possible if I put my mind to it!”

hand dyed margilan silk , pencil roving

www.benedrilkidfelt.com Facebook: Benedril Kid Instagram: @benedryl_kyd

Susan Lime New Mexico, USA 97

Separate yet Connected

In the past three years here in Northern California, we have suffered two devastating wildfires that wiped out neighborhoods, beloved landmarks, and even towns, as well as a severe flood that caused many local small businesses to close. During these disasters, including our current pandemic, I have pondered ways of sharing light, maintaining hope, holding love and reflecting beauty. I challenged myself to make battery operated light vessels in reaction to the many extended power outages. Light that is always accessible.

Nancy Rosenthal lives and works in the heart of Northern California’s wine country. She started her company, Fiat Luxe, an artisanal felted soap and textile design company in 2006. The name, Fiat Luxe—let there be light—is inspired by the ever-present flickering of life and luminescence forming behind the fibrous veil of a chrysalis—Nancy’s first memory as a child. Her inspiration stems from nature's ability to display stunning beauty and she strives to emulate that beauty through her fiber art. A lover of all things handmade, Nancy creates beauty with layers of color, texture, and fiber in forms such as light vessels, home décor and wearable art.

Nancy Rosenthal California, USA 98

A few short months ago I would never have thought to make a bag with a pandemic theme. Now it seems entirely appropriate to reference world events as a narrative. Inspired by a tunic made in March, during the first week of the global Covid-19 crisis at Fiona Duthie and Ellen Bakker’s colour collaboration workshop the colours connect, but the texture of my Carpet Bag is strengthened with a core layer of Bergschaf wool.

Raised fins on fish and silk cocoon virus inclusions enhance the front, together with the words of British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry “Be kind, be calm and stay safe” written but partially obscured within the fabric. The strap was laid out as a pleated silk mask which I knew would become frills, so other masks were incorporated as inside pockets. One protects my children, one safeguards others. My hope is that whenever the bag is used, its contents will be secure and protected within.

Sandra Barrett is a blacksmith who loves to incorporate felting with forgework. She has a felting studio and gallery in Fernie, British Columbia. Sandra is the membership coordinator for felt :: feutre Canada and the representative for Canada, Region 18 of the International Feltmakers’ Association. Previous work has been published in “Worldwide colours of felt” by Ellen Bakker, Felt, Felt Matters and online exhibitions “Stories of the Trees” and “Transitions”. One of Sandra’s wall hangings “True North” was accepted for a year long travelling exhibition across Britain with the IFA. Her copper and felt “Spiritual Temple” was on the cover of the Shrine catalogue, a contemporary felt exhibition by felt :: feutre Canada members exhibited in Nova Scotia and Vancouver in 2018. Sandra has mounted two solo shows at her Eye of the Needle gallery “Winter Light” in 2017 “and yet...” in 2019. www.fernieforge.ca Facebook: eyeoftheneedlestudio Instagram: @fernieforge

Sandra Barrett British Columbia, Canada 99

Separate yet Connected

Protected Within 53 x 38 x 20cm (21 x 15 x 8�) merino, bergschaf, painted silks, banana fibre, silk cocoons, embroidery floss, waxed cotton thread, internal frame and hardware, leather handles 100

Ripple in Time 62 X 100 cm (24.5 x 39�) local Gotland wool 101

Separate yet Connected

Ripple in Time is about exploration in surface texture at a time when a pandemic was brewing in the world. My interpretation and intention changed as the world around me suddenly shifted.

Ripple in Time started as play with layers, intended to be flat but dimensional. Now, all I can see are the 'separations'... but after weeks of staring at it, it needed to take an embracing shape, not to stand alone. In this time, when people come across one another they maintain a separation, but when it is with a friend or family that distance is harder to keep. It might even feel rude or silly. The physical representation came with the twisting of the piece, where it takes on the shape of an embrace and all the separated layers now touch or almost touch.

Chantal Cardinal's foundation for the last 25 years has been as a Fashion Designer and Costumer in the film industry (Montreal-Vancouver). While working in a feIt atelier, she was introduced to wet felting techniques and fell in love with nature's renewable gift. This has become her full-time obsession under FELT Ă la main with LOVE and she works out of her studio at The Arts Factory in Vancouver, BC. Chantal has exhibited in BC as well as in the UK and was awarded a Vancity public art commission (2015/16). Her work has been included in a juried exhibition 'Explorations in Felt' at the Hunterdon Art Museum in New Jersey, USA, and is also in a 3 artists exhibition exploring materialities, glass, plaster, and wool, called ?WHAT MATTERS! in North Vancouver, BC. www.feltalamain.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FELTalamainwithLove/ Instagram: @feltalamainwithlove

Chantal Cardinal British Columbia, Canada 102

It was very therapeutic to have the opportunity to create something tangible. For me the best bit is to feel connected yet again with your felters whom I have encountered in the past: reassuring and inspiring to see everyone’s work! -Mia Hartgroves It would have been easy to become overwhelmed and dysfunctional with the constant barrage of global Pandemic information, but instead this was the time to let my hands think for me. The challenge was issued, the deadline was clear and it was a huge relief to just get lost in the calming visualization of the felting process. -Sandra Barrett The united voice of creative felters from all over the world has helped me to endure the social distancing and present uncertainty of the future. We are all in it together expressing our feelings in colour and fellowship.

-Eva Helgesson I have been grateful to have this challenge to push me into uncomfortable territory. It has been a positive way to grow during this fraught time. The support of my fellow felters has made me feel very connected to the outside world. -Betsy Vaden

I think it’s amazing, Fiona, how are you have joined this group of fiber artists in this one of a kind online exhibition. In a matter of a few weeks time you have encouraged us all to create fiber art to represent the Separate Yet Connected theme. Like minded (connected) individuals (separate) Thank you for your vision and leadership. -Deb Koesters

Working on this challenge over the past nine weeks – while in isolation from most of my community and the wider world – provided a thread of connection to my felting community. It was comforting and stabilizing to know we were all working on a common goal together, in our own ways, with a unique end result that we can all share. -Tuula Talvila

When I saw the first post about the challenge I got excited and was looking forward to learning more about it. Three days before the challenge opened I lost my father and because of the world being in lock down I was not able to be there for him. This has “coloured” all of my days since and most likely it will be like this for a while.Trying to focus on this challenge has been difficult and I was not at all sure that I would end up making a piece. But I did I and I am grateful for being able to be part of this colourful and creative community during these strange and uncertain times. -Maria Holst Salomonsen I am most grateful for the journey this challenge inspired. It pushed my boundaries personally and creatively, providing focus at a time of profound unbalance and supporting a global connection among kindred spirits.

-Kathleen Drinkwater

103

Separate yet Connected

I am so happy I decided to take the leap and be a part of this online exhibition. The following comments are a result of a spark you decided to take on. Always generous, thoughtful and kind you are. At the start of this challenge I felt at a loss as to how to express my feelings. Right away I decided to look for support from this lovely group and I had so many wonderful suggestions that got my mind to think it though. As I worked with the wool my thoughts poured into the project and my ideas just evolved into something I feel expresses my feelings during this pandemic. As the weeks went on I perfected the construction of my piece and each time it helped me process a deeply sad place for those affected and fighting the fight. -Leslie Cervenka

I thoroughly enjoyed a constructive goal to work towards. It was also wonderful to connect with others around the world, working on their challenge and feeling in a similar predicament. So unifying.

-Coral Phillips

This challenge was instrumental in forcing us, as artists, to look beyond our isolation, to a world where we supported one another. Rather than being caught in a cycle of introspection, we pushed through the walls our imposed physical limitations to create pieces that celebrates our very human bonds. -Liza Hageraats

The initial challenge causes all sorts of anxiety : Can I produce something worthy. Are my design ideas artistic enough. What to make that pushes me out of my comfort zone. Should I just not participate. I was stalled for a long time for inspiration. What to make that push me out of my comfort zone of wearables. Inspiration “finally” arrived from a ceramic piggy bank and shortage of toilet paper! Could I actually come close to producing a felt replica? Through Fiona’s teachings all the tools for execution where there…let the fun begin!

This pandemic has given me the gift of time and positive reflection. My happy place is producing slow art.

I am most content when working with my hands, living within my creative bubble. -Lynn Guina

THE moment I saw the challenge from Fiona I immediately was excited about it. It was an excellent idea! I could think about making something instead of being anxious about becoming infected. And the feeling of so many other women felting around the same theme also gave me courage! I am grateful to be part of this community. -Lucie Haentjens

Reflections of Some Participants 104

105