Heather Potten Feltmaker - Inspired Stories

Inspired|in detail

9/20/2016

Curating an exhibition is most certainly a roller coaster. It starts fairly slowly with lots of conversations...toing and froing by email, phone, text. Setting dates and booking the gallery.
Lull.
Getting more people on board, working out themes, titles and deadlines.
Encouraging, cajoling, reassuring.
And suddenly the date's not so far away and panic starts to set in. Will we be ready?
Week of the set-up and there are lists of things to do. Bit by bit, the items on the lists get ticked off and everything is ready for the Opening Party. Which is wonderful. All the hard work has come together and it's time to relax and enjoy it.
Lull.
The day to day of the exhibition begins. Visitors pop in every day...some are familiar faces, others have read or heard about it. Others find it by chance.
Now we are more than a week into the show. And yesterday, Karen (a feltmaker in her own right) and Vern (her partner) came along and were enthralled. Vern took photos of the exhibition as he saw it. Not only did he take fascinating photos, but he also agreed to them becoming part of this record of all we have achieved.
So here we have it.
Thank you, Vern and Karen.

Inspired | In detail by Vern Woloschin

Opening Event - an invitation

9/5/2016

Come to our Opening Event this Saturday!

From from 12pm to 3pm on Saturday 10 September, you can wander the collections, meet the artists and makers, enjoy refreshments and listen to the soulful sounds of Katie Doyle.

INSPIRED combines art and couture with everyday living to create a delightful explosion of colour and creativity in felted wool.

INSPIRED is a selling showcase of contemporary felted wool craft and design. You will explore a colourful mix of felt artworks, wearables and homewares by our selected textile artists and makers. You may be surprised to discover that felted wool is soft and strong, abstract and pictorial, practical and imaginative.

This new exhibition aims to bring together, for the first time, a collection of beautiful and thought-provoking felted art and design to introduce this increasingly popular creative skill to new audiences and participants.

Hope to see you there!

Edinburgh Palette is at 151 London Road, next to Meadowbank Stadium. You'll find us in Gallery 2 (3rd floor).

Using natural wool fibres, and recycled fabrics, artists and makers are creating amazing new shapes, extraordinary colour combinations and out-of-this-world textures. I hope this exhibition will introduce felted wool and its endless creative possibilities to a new audience.
Heather Potten
felt maker and curator of Inspired Exhibition

Eri's Story

9/5/2016

Eri Hayashi came to Scotland from Tokyo two years ago. Whilst her husband worked, Eri enrolled in English classes at the language school in which Heather used to teach. A former colleague suggested that Eri might improve her English by taking up a new skill and so, in April 2015, Eri’s feltmaking adventures began.
In Tokyo, Eri had always been interested in making things by hand, attending classes in pottery. She particularly enjoyed working with textures. Over the past 18 months, Eri has learned the language of feltmaking: how to work with wool, how to make 2D and 3D pieces, how to combine colour and texture. Through the workshops, she has developed a new relationship with Heather Potten - teacher and mentor - and a new confidence in her abilities.
Eri has made three bags for the exhibition. After a 2-day workshop, she became curious about the design challenges of making a functional item. For these three pieces, she has considered what she will take back to Japan for her mother, her sister and herself as presents, as mementos of her time in Scotland and her development as a feltmaker.

UK Wool Week 2016

8/31/2016

UK Wool Week 2016 is fast approaching, promoted by The Campaign for Wool.
Find out about events near you

#woolweek @campaignforwool

A handbag?

8/29/2016

In 2015, Heather attended a workshop with Hungarian feltmaker, Judit Pocs at the Dutch Felt Academy in Friesland.
"... suffice to say that the workshop was not for the faint-hearted."
Here's the full story (and lots more photos).
Heather is hosting a 2-day masterclass in which particpants will explore the feltmaking techniques required to make a beautiful handbag.

MEDIA RELEASE

8/19/2016

19/08/2016

New exhibition combines art and couture with everyday living to create a delightful explosion of colour and creativity in felted wool

INSPIRED is a selling showcase of contemporary felted wool craft and design. Visitors will explore a colourful mix of felt artworks, wearables and homewares by our selected textile artists and makers.
The exhibition is open daily from 11am to 6pm, Saturday 10 to Sunday 25 September 2016 in Gallery 2, St Margaret’s House (Edinburgh Palette) 151 London Road Edinburgh EH7 6AE. The opening event takes place on Saturday 10 September from 12pm to 3pm. All welcome.
Many visitors will be surprised to discover that felted wool is soft and strong, abstract and pictorial, practical and imaginative. This new exhibition aims to bring together, for the first time, a collection of beautiful and thought-provoking felted art and design. It will create new conversations about felt making amongst the creative community and public and introduce this increasingly popular creative skill to new audiences and participants.
Four talented designer-makers will headline the exhibition, each offering a unique selection of felted wool pieces along with the stories which have inspired their making.

Heather Potten - Felt Maker and Designer - “Wherever I go, whether it be in Scotland or abroad, I always take my camera with me. Although I love the grandeur of big landscapes, I am most interested in colours, textures, shapes.”
Sarah Brooker - Textile Artist - Sketchbooks, full of her drawings from travelling, inspire her felt making.
Lubi Lykan - Couture and Embroidery - Nature inspires every part of her practice – her designs, the traditional embroidering processes she uses and her choice of fabrics.
Rosie Doyle - Felt Fashion Maker - “I often find myself inspired to create work to celebrate a place that I know and love. Rather than simply a visual connection, it is also an emotional connection.”

In addition, five local makers - Susan Horsburgh, Tricia Mowat Slater, Andrea McHugh and Jane Chisholm and Eri Hayashi - will also show their latest work, some for the first time ever. They are all long-term collaborators and colleagues as well as recent students of Heather Potten.
Heather Potten, felt maker and curator of Inspired Exhibition said today,
"Feltmaking is an ancient craft with contemporary value. Using natural wool fibres, and recycled fabrics, artists and makers are creating amazing new shapes, extraordinary colour combinations and out-of-this-world textures. Yet you don't often find felted artworks, fashion, accessories or homewares at craft shows in Scotland. I hope this exhibition will introduce felted wool and its endless creative possibilities to a new audience. With a dedicated space for the exhibitors to work on projects, visitors can see felt making in action. And for anyone wanting to have a go for the first time, there are four great workshops."

Notes to Editors:
Felt is a unique, non-woven textile made from wool fibres. Felt making is the process during which wool fibres shrink and come together to form a dense mat when subjected to heat, humidity, friction and a change of alkalinity. The art of felt making predates woven cloth and is thought to date back to Neolithic times.
Hashtag:
#inspiredbyfelt
Tags:
Edinburgh, Edinburgh Palette, St Margarets House, handmade, local event, workshops, wool, textile art, fine wool felt
Photographs:
A selection of photographs of artists and their work will be available for download shortly.
Contact Information:
Heather Potten 07719 433436
Website:
www.heatherpotten.com/inspiredexhibition.html
www.heatherpotten.com/inspired-stories
Downloadable Logo:

FELTMAKING ON PINTEREST

8/19/2016

Whether you're new to feltmaking or a devotee, Pinterest is an extraordinary source of inspiration and ideas.
Delve into an exhaustive library of photos, from both professional and amateur makers. You'll find images displaying marvellous skills, colour combinations, home design, fashion and lots of beautiful textiles. And links to follow a trail to inspire and delight you.
A good place to start is Heather Potten's Feltmaking board where there are nearly 700 pins from makers, designers and stylists from around the world.

EVENT

8/18/2016

For over 10 years, Tricia Mowat Slater's battle with renal failure provided the opportunity for creative study. She became a Lifelong Learner at Edinburgh College of Art where her love of feltmaking began. She has also participated in feltmaking classes with Heather Potten.
Tricia combines felting and eco dyeing in her future work. She's a member of the International Feltmakers Association and recently attended Scottish Felters Summer School.

This was my second year attending the Scottish Felters Summer School in Dunblane. It was good to see many familiar faces from the previous year, I also met felting friends from Facebook for the first time.
I had booked for three courses over five days - two days of Willow Weaving and Wool with Anna Turnbull, one day doing Shibori Wristlets with Christine Sinclair and two days of 3D Structural Felt.
I loved all three courses but found I needed more strength in my hands for the willow weaving. I attached a piece of my own eco-printed wool fabric whilst others made some felt to weave into the vessel.
At Christine's excellent Shibori day, I made a pair of colourful blue with fuscia silk wristlets and another white pair with silk. Back at home, I dyed one in onion water and will eco-print the other one soon.
The final two days were devoted to trying out various techniques in felt, from making thin felt trapping willow sticks to make a kind of lamp to learning to felt wire for jewellery, experimenting with fins, crevises and lumps (representing pebbles) using merino tops instead of marbles.
It really was a fun week in great company. The only downside ... I put on 3lbs I'm sure because of Connie's delicious home baking every afternoon!

STUDIO

8/18/2016

Sarah Brooker lays out work for her "Deeply Felt" show in Cirencester in 2015. "Ten different beaches from my travels!"

WORK-IN-PROGRESS

8/15/2016

Sarah Brooker studied Fine Art at Portsmouth University, followed by a post graduate in Textiles at Goldsmiths College, where she learnt felt making.
She moved from creating metal sculptures to the fragile coloured fibres of felting almost overnight, and has never looked back - it continues to fascinate her as a medium and she hopes to communicate some of that passion in her work.

"This piece is called 'Fall' and was inspired when walking through the beautiful grounds surrounding The Museum in the Park in Stroud, near my home in the Five Valleys.
One autumn morning, I was transfixed by the reds and greens of fallen leaves and just had to try to depict them. I 'painted with fleece' to illustrate the season."
This work-in-progress showing the process of layering uses dyed merino fleeces, silk fibre for highlights, some flax fibre and Wensley Dale tops.