See PROGRAMS for more images and information on the guild meeting below:

Guild Meeting May 8, 2013

"A Felting Journey" with Andrea Graham
www.andrea-graham.com

Andrea Graham is a feltmaker and educator residing in rural Ontario with her husband and three sons. She is the Canadian coordinator for the International Feltmakers Association, a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Crafts Council.

"Using both traditional nomadic and modern feltmaking techniques, wool fibre is magically transformed. Felted wool is traditionally created with wool fibre, soap and water. Alternately, a single barbed needle borrowed from industrial felting machines can be used as a sculpting tool, entangling the scales on the wool fibres creating felted fibre. These techniques together allow for endless possibilities.

In my current work, ambiguous sculptures express the paradox of living organisms: strength and fragility, persistence and surrender, liberation and containment. Open wounds and haphazard sutures serve as metaphor for the victimization of our environment as a result of our consumer culture.

In the cycle of growth and decay, resilience is silently expressed. Curious sculptural form awakens a sense of wonder in the potential of the smallest seed and organism for either success or failure. It is this precarious state and the need to nurture and protect that I wish the viewer to explore as they consider revisiting their consumer practices. The use of wool and the alchemy of feltmaking in the execution of my art allow me to use a sustainable material which is both consistent with my message and the organic nature of my work."