Fashioning Felt

The Cooper Hewitt Felt Show

I loved the felt show at the Cooper Hewitt–it was a great mix of art, design and craft. Here’s a  fun 30 second intro video from the museum to give you a glimpse of the variety of work on display (loved the “Swing Low” cradle by Ulrick Peterson shown at the end of the video):

Show Highlights

I really loved the show because it  was a great example of the sophisticated uses of felt old and new–it was my first chance, for instance, to see a traditional felted shepard’s cloak (a kepenek) up close–they are supposed to be unsurpassed for warmth and waterproof-ness (is that a word?) and I love how it’s such a simple, ancient garment/sleeping bag/personal tent combination.

I have a soft spot for the traditional felting techniques and loved the  traditional Uzbek carpet and an Afghani saddle pad on display, as well as simple graphic carpet of shibori dyed yellow and green circles on a red ground called Mosen–here’s a little image on the right.

A satisfying pile of felt rocks by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen were also on display–they had a few in the touchy-feely section at the end of the show and it sure felt like there was a rock inside, but they are supposed to be wool all the way through.

Christine Birkle designed a wonderful outfit (manufactured by Hut Up, Germany–they have a great site of all their felt, definitely check it out) on exhibit that was a great blend of old and new–a contemporary method  of felting the wool with silk, linen, and cotton and constructing the garments without sewing–using a very traditional technique in a fashionable way.

My favorite piece in the show was simply called Felt Molding by Kathryn Walter–thick, sculptural, and substantial, it was a fresh, fun send-up of traditional decorative trim we see so much of in wood and plaster–especially in the Andrew Carnegie mansion building itself (the site of the Cooper-Hewitt museum), a gorgeous, over the top expression of Georgian style architecture. I was pleased to find out this was the artist’s intent. Here’s a link to their Felt Studio and other wonderful felt products they offer: http://www.feltstudio.com/

Felting Videos

The Cooper-Hewitt also offered 3 great videos that give you a wonderful overview of how felt is made–one of the traditional felt process, one of the contemporary artist who created the “Palace Yurt” installation that filled an entire gallery room, and one of the industrial felting process. All three processes are in current practice on the planet right now, which is also cool. I’ll be writing posts on how to felt at home which draw on the traditional techniques the most, but I’d kill for the cool “felting machine” that Janice Arnold has to make her giant installation pieces. At some point I’ll try to get my husband to help me make a mini version. In the meantime, enjoy the videos, they are really worth watching.

The Palace Yurt Felt Artist:

Traditional Felt Making in Mongolia

Industrial Machine Felting (A Felt Company from Canada)

The show is open until September 7, 2009, so if you’re reading this post before then, definitely make the effort to go. It’s worth the trip.

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