Wear a Weaving!

Think of the variety of materials and tools we have in our Fibers Studio.  Yarn, string, fabric, buttons, looms, pom pom makers, felt, patterns, pins, crochet needles, sewing machines, tapestry needles and thread. 

Let's make a woven bracelet.

First, do you remember how to weave?  (hint:  over -under- over- under).

Second, do you remember how to thread a needle?  You will use yarn and a tapestry needle. 

You will also need cardboard and a few rubber bands.  

Use two arm lengths of yarn.  You will use your needle to go over and under the rubber bands.  Back and forth or side to side.  Continue all around your cardboard until all the rubber bands are covered.

Tie on a new piece of yarn when you run out.

Stretch your learning by adding beads, sequins and changing colors as you go.

Wet Felted Flowers

Wool is a natural fiber material that comes from a Sheep.  When we say a material is natural it means it comes from nature.  Artists work with wool in many ways.  It can be twisted and spun into yarn or felted into artworks.  
Wool can be felted wet or dry.  When an artist felts wool, they are interlocking the fibers.  Using a needle that repeatedly jabs the wool or heat (hot water), soap and friction, loose little strands of wool bond or stick together to create a material.

Dry felting uses a special barbed needle to push and bond the fibers together.

Wet felting uses hot soapy water and friction by rubbing and pressing wool to create a wool material. Wet-felting is one of the oldest ways humans have made fabric.

Let's try wet felting to make Felted Flowers.  

Choose a few small pieces of wool that will become the petals of your flower.  Create thin layers of wool  into a round shape. 

Place into a soapy cup of hot water and agitate.  Keep rubbing the wool under the water until the water cools.  Repeat this process two more times.

Extensions:  try wet felting beads or felting a tennis ball to create a small bowl.

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That's a Wrap

 

There are so many ways to create in Fiber Arts.  Let's look at two artists who got wrapped up in yarn.  Their art can be considered both Fibers and Sculpture.

Sheila Hicks

Through out her long career, American artist Sheila Hicks has been innovative and inspired other fiber artists.  

At Yale, Sheila earned her BFA and MFA -- these are art degrees that mean she is like a "super-expert" in her art making.  Sheila learned about painting and sculpture but it was on a Fulbright scholarship that she traveled to Chile and got interested in fibers.  Sheila's travel to locations around the world inspired her art.

Sheila uses traditional craft to create installations of her fiber works. (An installation is an art filled room or space where you actually are in the art rather than just staring at it on a wall. Sculptures that make you feel like you've stepped into a new world or change how you see or feel about a space.). 

Known for her vibrant colors and innovative use of materials, Sheila makes us think about fibers in a new way. 

Sheila's art fills a wall inside the newly remodeled Powell Hall where the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra plays.  I hope you get a chance to checkout her colorful fiber art.

Let's look at another artist who created art wrapped with fiber materials.

Judith Scott

Judith Scott has become a well known American sculptor and fiber artist.  Judith was born a twin and with Down Syndrome.  She was mostly deaf and did not speak.  

At the time in history when Judith was a child, it was unfortunately common for people with disabilities to live in institutions. Judith spent most of her life in an institution for the mentally disabled.  (Institutions for people with disabilities are places where many people with disabilities used to live together, often in big buildings far away from their families).  How would that feel?

Judith's twin Joyce worked hard and got guardianship of Judith, meaning Joyce is not her parent but legally takes care of her like her parents would. As an adult, Judith moved to California to live with her twin sister.  

In California, Joyce enrolled her twin sister in Creative Growth Art Center, an art studio for adults with disabilities.  

It took some time but Judith eventually revealed herself to be a talented fiber artist.

She found objects of all sizes and would wrap them, weave them and interlace them with fiber materials like yarn and fabric.  Judith's art would eventually be recognized, appreciated and end up in museums around the world.  

How might Judith or Sheila's Fiber Art inspire work in our studio?  Maybe you'll create a form that you'll wrap yarn and string around.

Will you create art by wrapping, weaving, knotting and intertwining fibers?

Fibers Boot Camp

Pom poms

Fiber wrapped Figures