Sculpting & Painting With Fiber
Terri has been involved in the fiber arts in one form or another all her life and has at one time or another been an enthusiast of crewel, ribbon embroidery, quilting, spinning, crochet and knitter. She still occasionally does those things but sculpting with fiber in the form of needle felting has become her first and best love. She enjoys the entire process from creating the support armatures inside to dyeing and blending her own fiber.
Needle felting has been around since the 1950s in the industrial field where large plates with notched,carbon steel needles are used to make felt for automobile dampers on friction points and in the musical instrument and building industries. Sometime in the 1980s Dave Stanwood figured out he could make shapes from loose wool and a single needle and Ayala Talpai developed it into the single needle technique we use today . By continually stabbing fibers with these special needles, the fiber begins to compact into the desired shape and finished art can range from tiny to enormous. Terri almost always makes and uses wire armature to felt around which gives large pieces the ability to stand unaided as well as helping to coax the fibers to take on a new shape. Some pieces can even be made to emulate movement with this inner wire frame. While it's possible to buy just about any color or wool from any of the 200 different breeds of sheep in the world, Terri prefers to work with merino and at times incorporates mohair, alpaca or silk into the work. "Sculpting with fibers satisfies my deep love of textures. When I'm absorbed in creating the world around me melts away and soothes my inner soul. It transports me to a place that balances my world, creating an inner peace. I have a very deep need to keep challenging myself and a hope that my intense desire to keep learning new things never dissipates. The only things that can't be sculpted in wool are those that have not yet been imagined." |
“When we engage in the fiber arts, we are creating something, but we’re also participating in historic traditions tens of thousands of years old. You are not only making art for your soul and for future generations, you are embodying the work of our ancestors.”- the woven road |
Awards and Shows
Artist of the Month- The Blue Whole Gallery, Sequim, Wa
Washington State Fair-Honorable Mention 2018
Collective Visions Gallery- Bremerton 2018 Washington State Fair-Honorable Mention 2019 Collective VisionsGallery -Bremerton 2019-3rd place Fiber Fusion-Monroe, Wa. 2019-1st place, best in division Sequim Civic Center, Small Treasures OPAA-2019 Northwind Gallery-Port Townsend, 2019 Curator for 3D Art Show, The Blue Whole Gallery-2019 |