Fashioning Felt Exhibit
A perfect segue from my last post on Felting Possibilites, I visited the Cooper Hewitt Museum to see the Fashioning Felt exhibit. At the last minute, I joined a tour group and as we stood in the Palace Yurt, we had the pleasant surprise of listening to Janice Arnold, the designer, talk about her project from conception to installation, as well as what inspired her design. She had a team of people working with her to create the 20 felted panels that would later be draped over a custom metal structure. The panels, inspired by the “cellular structure of wood”, consist of seven layers: Tencil™ fibers, honey tussah silk roving, two layers of Merino wool, silk netting, metallic silk organza and silk roving. The Yurt was tremendously peaceful and meditative. The tour guide referenced her as the best known felt artist in the United States.
The rest of the exhibit was so creative. Chairs, garments, rugs, walls, all made from the various felting processes. Some of the fitted garments like the dress below were made with no seams. Take a look for yourself.
Palace Yurt
Bless You Chair
Relief Chair
Dress (one piece)
Felted rugs
All images taken from CooperHewitt.org
What do you think of these extraordinary felting designs?
