I want my fiber paintings to reflect the ordinary, tender, often invisible ways the labor of caregiving shapes the world around us.

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Felting is an ancient method of creating textiles. It blends wool into dense, matted fabric with hot water, soap, and agitation. Nomadic communities throughout the world have used felt for warmth, shelter and ornamentation. Each has its own unique origin tale for the technique. 

 

When I learned how to wet felt, my mentor shared a story that had me hooked: “Some say that felting was discovered by medieval pilgrims. They stuffed their shoes with discarded wool while walking the Santiago de Compostela. The sweat and friction of walking then felted the wool and soothed their aching feet.” 

This blend of body and spirit, caregiving and regeneration still resonates with my creative process. I see art-making through a sacramental lens, as a form of prayer that transforms simple materials through touch. Wool felting has become central to my art practice, along with tapestry weaving, stitching, and repurposing found textiles. My background in figurative oil painting informs my approach to fibers, which could be described as “painting with wool.” 

I have three young children, and these early, intensive years of parenting inspire my domestic family scenes. I felt pieces by hand and in my washing machine, and upcycle cast-off materials like burp cloths, dryer lint and crib sheets. In this way I seek to honor the states of exhaustion, vulnerability and yearning that can accompany motherhood. Through subjects like doodling children or wedding rings, my work hints at the intersection of ritual and play, monotony and delight in fundamental human relationships.

Studio Portraits

Courtesy of Robea Nordman