Our 2013 FeltUnited theme is WATER!!!

We are thrilled to announce that the theme for this years FeltUnited day is WATER!!! On Saturday 5th October 2013 people from all around the globe will join together to celebrate working with felt, why don’t you join us and share in the fun? There are many ways in which you can celebrate our wonderful yet ancient craft, here are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing!

• show your felt to your neighbours, to your family, to an audience
• hang a felt piece on your front door or in a gallery
• decorate a fence, statue, building, park or yourself!
• plan a workshop
• teach children and adults how to felt
• talk about felt
• write an article about felt or the makers
• get others involved – a community project, an open studio, a ‘felt-in’
• collaborate with a felter in another city, country on another planet
• enjoy felt!

In the meanwhile, our Facebook page is now open for comments, thoughts and ideas for the 2013 event. We also welcome pictures of felt inspired by our new theme, WATER, when posting pictures please make sure to leave a short description saying exactly HOW your piece got its inspiration. NB As moderators of the Facebook group we reserve the right to remove any picture without consultation if we feel it does not conform to the 2013 theme.

An example of the sort of picture we welcome, Nika Ivanoff and her son working on a water inspired felt dress

Please check out the guidelines for joining the group if you have any questions in this regard as we do not want to offend anyone unintentionally or remove pictures unnecessarily. Also please note, in deference to others it would be appreciated if group members do not post multiple pictures of similar items one after the other, we want to make sure that everybody has an equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of the group!

Your new FeltUnited team!

Dear all,

Let me start by introducing myself just in case you are wondering, ‘Who is this Dawn Edwards’? I live in a small town of about 4,000 people in Plainwell, Michigan, 2.5 hours from Detroit, 3 hours to Chicago, and I have been felting approximately eight years now, having loved it from the very beginning. I can’t explain exactly what draws me to it so, but I know that it is like a magnet….pulling me towards it most every day, and when I’m not ‘with it’, I’m thinking about it. So now you know, I have a one-track mind!

I must say that I’m so honored to have been asked to jump on board with FeltUnited, as I love everything that it stands for…Love that it involves felting, and through our shared passion, helps to connect people in a world where it sometimes seems hard to make connections, to forge strong bonds. And, I know for a fact, that this platform has the power to do that. I have found some of my dearest friends through feltmaking and for that I am so very grateful.

Speaking of friends, I am thrilled to be working with long-time friend, Nicola Brown, who I met online through feltmaking some years back, me following her wonderful blog, and also joining in on some of her felt swaps, later having her teach here in my hometown (several times), and then me traveling to Ireland to teach there just last Spring. It’s amazing to me that we’ve had these opportunities through the gift of feltmaking and I’m looking forward to adding this new component to our friendship. Thank you Nicola for partnering with me on this new adventure. We’ll navigate this path much better than my sense of driving directions!!!

While excited about this new opportunity, I must admit to being a bit nervous, too. Someone entrusting you with something that they love, and have created, is a big responsibility. So, thank you Elis and Cynthia, for entrusting me/us to continue on this path that you so lovingly began. And, I say that, because there was never any pay involved…no one knows the many countless hours that you poured your heart and soul into this project…devoting your time and energy to it because it felt like the right thing to do…and you loved feltmaking…and in turn, loved us, too…Knowing that somehow felt held the power to bond people right along with those wonderful wool fibers.

I read once that feltmaking was in ancient days thought to have magical powers. And, I can totally understand that….It has been magic to me… having led me on some of the most amazing journeys. And, I hope that for each of you reading this post, that if you haven’t as yet experienced the magic of felt, that it is just around the next bend for you and your life.

Please be a bit patient with us as we embark on this new journey of FeltUnited, and all that goes along with it. Nicola and I will need a little time to get up to speed, put our heads together, and then we hope that you will join us in the celebration of all things felt, both the fiber and the friendships….as we begin the planning of FeltUnited 2013.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart dear Elis and Cynthia, for a job so much more than well done…You dreamed the dream, put it into motion, saw it through to this point, and are now turning it over to two entirely different dreamers. Thank you for your friendship and your generous heart(s), and once again, for giving me wings to fly.

With a grateful heart…
Much love,
Dawn

Dear Fellow Felters,
Greetings from the other half of this new FeltUnited partnership!
My name is Nicola Brown and I live in a quiet, rural community in south eastern Ireland. My introduction to felting came in August 2007 when a Spanish girl living locally asked me if she could facilitate felting workshops for children at a sustainable festival I was involved in organising. Immediately I agreed with one provision, adults be allowed to participate too! I’d seen two small flat felt pictures that a friend had made in art college and had vowed at the time to learn more about the ancient technique of wet felting. After that first session at the festival I was hooked, the facilitator Carmen Sanchez Padron has become one of my best friends and an exciting textile journey had begun.
Since then I’ve participated and organised many Irish and international workshops and symposiums, a vital way for me to learn new skills and make friends in the greater felting community. I have been teaching once or twice each year in California, Michigan and Kentucky since facilitating my first US workshop in 2009 and this year I added a residential week in Portugal to my regular schedule. One of my greatest achievements to date has been encouraging Dawn to get a passport!!! Having her visit me this year in Ireland and teach two workshops was wonderful, now the ice is broken she’s already got her bags packed for a return trip in March 2013! Blogging and participating actively on Facebook and other social media sites has allowed me engage with an ever widening group of felters and artists worldwide, it’s just wonderful to put faces to the names when we meet at various events throughout the year! I absolutely love felting by myself at home or in my studio every day if possible and being active online is an amazing tool to reach out and learn from or offer support to anyone, anywhere, at any time of the day or night. I’ve also had the opportunity to self-publish two felting books with a UK friend; the internet really is an incredible facility to introduce like minded people to each other.
It’s also true that many artists at times feel isolated, especially if they live in remote areas or practice a discipline that has not traditionally been a craft in their region. FeltUnited is a marvellous movement that helps us connect and engage with others who already love to explore the possibilities of working with wool and see how far they can push the felting boundaries. Elis and Cynthia have blazed a trail that Dawn and I are so incredibly honoured to follow. Working with Dawn is going to be a blast, we really tick on the same wavelength and I’m so looking forward to the journey together!
Thanks Elis and Cynthia from the bottom of my heart for having the confidence in us to hand over the reins and encouraging us to continue the amazing work that you have started. We really will do everything in our power to continue holding out the hand of friendship and uniting people through our love of felting. Please bear with us folks as Dawn and I move forwards, it’s going to take some time and hard work to really get to grips with the power of FeltUnited but I know with your support we’ll have fun while we’re doing it.

 

 

Whoa!

Okay, brace yourselves.;) Cynthia and I decided it is time to say goodbye. It is time for others to take over FeltUnited, time for new blood. ..Ok.. that sounds a bit creepy.. grinning..

So we looked for people who would want and love to take over FeltUnited and we found them. Through the years we worked on this global event, the friendship between Cynthia and I was always the key, it ruled every decision. And I am happy that the ones taking over are friends too. Both felters, both kind and both hard workers.

Cynthia and I have had a good time working together and I will surely miss that. We loved getting to know so many people and we were, every year, amazed by the amount of participants, about how enthusiastic people all over the globe worked on this FeltUnited day, the amazing things people did and made. How  the love you all have of this medium felt, had no boundaries and took no notice of borders and we thank you for you and for all you did. You rocked the world.

We will be working on the background for a little while but will both be busy concentrating on other things, family and work. Cynthia is busy on a variety of projects both in the studio, as well as in her kitchen, and as always focusing on family life. And I am focussing on work and on travels and teaching but also enjoying a bit of rest after working on an Installation project from which Duinvlegels made a short video which will go online here today(!) as a farewell.

So this post is about saying farewell and about saying welcome!…

Ladies and gentleman, may I introduce to you as your new FeltUnited team..Dawn Edwards from the US and Nicola Brown from Ireland!! (trumpets guys!) From now on you can ask them any question you want!:)  Dawn and Nicola, we wish you all the best and don’t forget to enjoy the ride!

x

Elis Vermeulen from Duinvlegels on Vimeo.

Happy FeltUnited day everyone!

The fire is on!

Let’s make it a really good one!

 

The countdown is on!

The countdown is on!
Saturday marks the 4th Annual FeltUnited Day, with artists sharing their love of felt around the world.

This year, unlike in past years, we are using our facebook page as our prime forum for sharing our images. Teasers have been popping up, and there are some brilliants works depicting this years theme: FIRE!

We can’t wait until Saturday to see what everyone has been working on!

We must remind you, that posting on facebook is only one part of the process. In order for your images to be used in print/online formats, magazine reviews etc..  we require them to be submitted in hi-res format and our submission form filled out. You can find the link to it here.

If you have not found our facebook page, be sure to join us! and remember: save your pics for Saturday, submit them and then sit back with a coffee and enjoy what everyone else is sharing :)

Together – we Felt United!

Hi there.

In coming weeks we will post some of your favorites photo’s of the FeltUnited previous years. Just to make you smile. ;) Well.. and also to stimulate, inspire and promote.

We are going to start with some of the 2009 shots and the theme in that year was  ’From yellow to red.’

Enjoy!

Jane Hewitt, Canada

Tina Rasmussen, Denmark

Kerstin Bennier, Austria

Anne Mortimer, New Zealand

Andrea Graham Canada

Siv Goransson and Gabriëlla Cunha, Uruguay

Monica Blattman, Switzerland

Call for submissions by Tracey Markey and Angela Barrow.

Call for submissions:

 The dying of the sun – a meditation on fire

To celebrate the fourth annual International Day of Felt, Tracy Markey and Angela Barrow invite you to participate in their exhibition to be held at The Barn Gallery, Perthshire.  The exhibition will run from 5^th to 12^th October 2012.

There are two opportunities available and artists are welcome to submit work for one or both of them.

Main Exhibition:   Artwork can be 2D or 3D and must contain an element of felt.  However, mixed/multi media pieces are encouraged.  Artists can submit up to three pieces for consideration.  Please be as creative as you wish with your interpretation of the theme!

Collaborative piece:   With your help, we are going to create a huge fire inspired piece to form part of the exhibition.

We are seeking pieces for inclusion … think flames; smoke; sparks; embers …  these will then be assembled in situ to create one large piece of work.

Your piece(s) can be any size, shape and combination of colours, as long as they are made from felt (other textiles can be included but should not be the main material).

To register your interest, and receive further details, please send an email to Tracy Markey, narkeymarkey@hotmail.co.uk, by Thursday 28th June 2012. 

If you wish to be considered for the main exhibition please include three images of your previous work along with a description of the piece(s) you propose to submit for the exhibition.

* Image taken from an original by Morgan Downie

Well, this is it!!

This is our new place on the world wide web. After over 70,000 hits on our old site, it was time for an overhaul. We hope you will enjoy it!

And there is plenty to enjoy :) For example the page with a ‘must read’ first newsletter, which contains a lot of info as to why the old site and the galleries needed to change. It also contains some news about the upcoming FeltUnited book, as well as what we are asking from the participants in this new year, and of course the theme for 2012. We are very happy that we also have a  ’Featured artists‘ link here on the blog where you can find a growing number of pages with interviews with felters. Fun, informative and inspirational. (Don’t miss the links at the top of the page for information about exhibitions, residencies/grants and wool festivals worldwide!)

So now you can send the link to all your friends, fellow felters, relatives and anyone you think might be interested. :) We will regularly write new posts and interviews, and talk about felt, what’s going on in the feltworld and promote felters. So come back often or better yet subscribe to follow the blog so you do not miss a post.

And if you want even more FeltUnited info and want to talk about your ideas for FeltUnited day just go to our Facebook page which is solely for FeltUnited business.

Take care.

Featured Felters

Introducing our first featured felters… from Lithuania, Japan, the United States and Germany.

We will be adding more interviews regularly throughout the year, feel free to let us know if there is someone in particular that you would like to have on our list.

The (much anticipated) FeltUnited Newsletter – 2012

After many virtual coffees and long talks, Here comes the first newsletter of 2012. There is a lot of information, so grab a coffee and try to take it all in.

First, we have for a multitude of reasons decided to ‘close the book’ on FeltUnited as it currently stands. We have had a lovely three years, and have come full circle with our color theme. So, in commemoration of this, and partially due to the fact that Apple is shutting down (June 2012) the platform on which FeltUnited is currently built, we have decided to produce a FeltUnited Book featuring works of the last three years. A book about all the work that has been done by you, the participants, and how the FeltUnited Day has been celebrated around the globe. We will let you know more when we know more!

Second, online: What started out as an idea to bring felters together across the planet, did so and much more. Our Facebook group is one of, if not the largest group of feltmakers online. A groups of artists with a common passion. Connections have been made that otherwise would not exist, and we hope that will continue. So to replace our current online format, we are setting up a new blog and have decided to use Facebook as the ‘online forum’ for FeltUnited, as we simply do not have the capacity to start from scratch on a new website this year. The Facebook group also allows for a more interactive format, but do not think that it is going to continue as it has on the group.. we are making a few changes, and in doing so, are going to ask more from you, in a variety or ways:

1. Think about the theme (don’t worry.. it’s coming :)) think of what it means, how you can convey it through felt.. not just the obvious colors, or the word, but the essence of the theme.

2. Then go about making your work, make it the best work you can, not just something that will suit the theme that you can slap together at the last minute, but really put your heart in it.

3. Take great photos! If you want tips on how, we can provide links. The chances that everyone will see your work and admire it in person is pretty slim, but we can all see it online, make it shine! Take photos like a pro, or ask a friend who is good with their camera to help you.

4. Save your best shots – save them for posting on the Day, so that we can all go online and revel in our Day, instead of dribbling it over the year. If you are keen to share, give us  a hint, a glimpse, whet our appetite… but keep the surprise until October!

5. Once the FeltUnited day has come and you have your work proudly ready, post it on the Facebook page, and send a hi-res version to our submissions email address, so that we can have it for the archives (for potential print or online use).

6. Get your felt out there, collaborate with other artists.. use Facebook to find them, ask who might like to work together.. get back to how FeltUnited first started, what it was all about. Not just an opportunity to get a photo in an exhibit, but a chance to revel in what you love, be bold, rock the world (as Elis loves to say!) and do MORE! Use this as a chance to bring your skills to the next level, to push yourself, no matter what your level is. If you are a beginner, there is nothing wrong with that! And if you are a master felter with decades of experience, give us a masterpiece!  Step up to the plate, and bring a friend!

So now.. what you have all been waiting for.. the theme:

We can tell you that it was difficult. We thought long and hard, dreamt and wasted many pieces of paper with our notes and possibilities but we figured it out. A theme that we know you will all love and that will spark your imagination.

FIRE! 

now stop.

close your eyes and think about it. Think about that word… fire, about every aspect, about the meaning, what it looks like, love the colours, feel the heat, find warmth in the friendships, taste the food, smell… use all of your senses… then dream of the possibilities.

oh yes.. and before we forget.. the date.. as always, first saturday in October – so this year October 6th, 2012 :)

Elis Vermeulen and Cynthia Reynolds

www.feltunited.com