Okanagan School of the Arts Workshops 1

  I have been working in one version of my most perfect place... there are several variations on this... but this is definitely a good one. The Okanagan is beautiful. And home to Canada's best wines, including some amazing reds. I'm staying on the Naramata bench, right on the KVR walking trail, in a vineyard... overlooking the lake.... with fine sunrises and sunsets. It is heavenly...and that is just my mornings and evenings.

  All day I spend at the Shatford Centre, home of the Okanagan School of the Arts. Some days I am teaching... and then others I am there as Artist in Residence. I'm using this time to tidy up some old work, refine my plans and goals for 2015/2016 and then start to enter into the mindspace for my upcoming exhibition in February. It is a wonderful world! Even with a separate studio space at home, and older children now, who are pretty self-sufficient, it is still a unique experience to go to a different space and focus. I think that is the key....to have clear goals to work towards in this special time set aside....with some breathing spaces allowed for...of course...and a fine glass of local red wine.

  This weekend was a three day session on Joomchi Feltmaking. We had a small class, due to a few cancellations, so I had the opportunity to make my own piece as a demonstration. With experienced feltmakers in the class, we delved deeper into perfect fit in garment construction and with a focus on lots of surfaces and composition techniques. 
All of the pieces were beautiful and perfect for their individual wearer and creator...

 

  And my own, red study....working with a single colour to really highlight the textures in the piece.

   This is first class I have taught in years that was not full. It was a tiny ego hit...being honest with you... but not for long...this smaller class size opened up opportunity to go much farther with my students and create something alongside them. We had more time for discussion and even a short "felt clinic" looking at past projects and tips for improving each work. It was a great gift of space and time.... These were three calm, creative, wonderful days, in an incredible setting and facility. It was pure pleasure.

And there are still 4 more days to go....
Warm wishes, 
Fiona

Felt Fashion-2013

This is a bit of a catch up post...Some work from 2013 I didn't share here.  Facebook friends will have seen these images, but I missed writing about them here in the midst of the busy-ness that was Fall.

 These pieces and the photographs were an important part of my creative evolution through 2013.  Moving into exploring more complex garment construction and the body as a canvas....lots of surfaces....and doing some photography with models. Rachel always looks fantastic in my work, and we are comfortable with one another and have fun doing the shoots. She gets to play model (stunningly) and I get to play photographer!

2014 holds lots more exploration of fashion...shibori work, origami in clothing, architectural shaping...sculpture for the body....lots of natural dye work as well...it's going to be fun!

Red Textures

 I am having a delicious stretch into new work....making pieces for the felt::feutre exhibition....It is so delightful to work out ideas without too much time pressure; just exploring pure creativity.

This is a technique that I teach in my Surface Design class....using slow felting wools to create nodules....and in this case, worked on a foam resist to make the finished piece take on a three dimensional form......

  I'm quite enjoying having these displayed in the studio, just as they are...I love their redness...it's powerful, and especially in combination with the charred wood piece underneath. The wood is part of a collaboration I am working on with my eldest son, Finn McGuffin....an interior design line in charred wood and felt...more to come on that....

  These red pieces are part of a sculptural piece that is another exploration of Joomchi felt.  They will be turned inside out and become the inner layers of a snowy white multipocketed piece...reflecting on what we show on the outside and all the layers that exist behind that social facade....the life experiences that inform our every movement and word, in multiple ways, but that those we interact with cannot always fully know....

Finishing up the white outer shell today...will show you some pics when complete!

This week is bringing on so many creative ideas...it's been a big week for communication, imagination and manifestation....a "yes" kind of week. 
I've got to go out and get another sketch book....most of the new ideas are for collections of pieces, and I just can't start on those until....until.....maybe December? The calender is very full....so I'll just  fill up the notebooks, and let those collections come to realization when the time is right!

Warm wishes,
Fiona

Inspired by Joomchi

  I recently came across two books...images on the covers that stopped my steps and set my heart beating a little faster....
Yesterday's studio inspiration came from Joomchi and Beyond by Jiyoung Chung.

 It is an enticing craft form....similar to felting, but also different.   I love finding a medium new to me, and letting the inspiration trickle into my own work....sometimes it happens...sometimes it's time is not yet ripe....

  As of yesterday I have completed most of my "required" work.....gallery restocked....fibre shows done.....retreats planned and almost full.....and now I can just be creative.....and yesterday became about starting a relationship with Joomchi....
Spaces...openings....screens and obscurities....layers and layers...what can be seen and what can not....the idea of "pockets" and what they may hold....

Openings cut, and pulled and formed at prefelt stage.....

And felted.....I love the random relationship of the spaces....

  It will became a part of this dress (that may became a short sleeved cardigan/coat).....probably dyed in shimmery underwater hues.The bodice is knitted and fulled cashmere and silk, the felting of which was a once very unhappy accident- but that was two or three years ago now, and the knitwear just presented itself again last week, ready for transformation! Now it's just exciting!....an underlayer of handdyed silk, nuno felted into ripples....

  This dress is the piece I am working on primarily this week....It still has many layers to be added to it before it will be finished...and creating every layer is pure pleasure!  Such a luxury to be able to spend the time desired fully devoted to a single project! Oh! Happy fall studio time!

  Read more about joomchi, and the work of artist Jiyoung Chung at http://jiyoungchung.com/
  Warm wishes,
Fiona