More picture from Esthers Place - goats, cheviot sheep and chickens

It was getting late in the day and the animals had either come in or were coming in. I loved how curious and expressive the goats were. The sheep also looked happy and of course I was drawn to the graphic patterning of the chickens.

Missing Esthers Place Fibers, Needle Felting, Art Education

When I lived in Northern Illinois, one of my favorite things was going to Donna and Natasha's fiber arts studio (www.esthersplacefibers.com) named after their first ewe Esther. This is where I learned to needle-felt, wet felt, nuno felt and so on. It was always incredibly warm and welcoming, most of the time they'd feed you or at least make you delicious teas in wonderful old thrift store china depending on how busy the store or classes were. People were always dropping in asking for advice or showing off what they'd just made in this beautiful old Victorian in the middle of farming country and I would walk around ooohing and aahing, touching all the different colored and textured wools, locks and rovings and feeling blissed.

Donna and Natasha came and visited my classes at NIU where we got to teach future art teachers and future elementary teachers about sustainability and the magic of making art from organic wool. We made future sustainable animals (I'll post some in the future) that were imaginative creations of how farm animals and farming might evolve in the future. Natasha and Donna also demonstrated how to make felted soap bar loofahs for younger kids and talked about the difficulties of farming for small farmers. Many of my students said that it was their favorite project. I got to visit their organic farm with some of my students and meet the sheep whose wool has sustained me creatively through many projects. It was quite a magical time and I was so happy to see farm animals living a good life. They were free range with a lovely big barn to come into. These are some of the pictures I took of the farm. I have been searching for something similar to the fiber arts studio in Northern California but have yet to find anywhere with the warmth and generosity and wonderful sense of community. I still get roving from Donna and Natasha by mail but I sure miss the place. If anyone knows of a place like this here - please let me know.

Felting Class

Yesterday's class was delightful. I especially loved having a couple of mother and daughter teams. I didn't get to make a pomegranate, too busy going around and helping folks but will make one another time. Everyone wanted to make flowers - so we did. Still, within the basic flower form there was so much variety in how people approached things. Some people went for layering and mixing colors, others were more interested in pattern than form. It was fascinating to watch and be a part of this process. The thing with needle-felting is that it is very forgiving - if you don't like something you can simply pull it off (if its not felted on too hard) or felt over the top of it. I showed the students some of the many things you can do with needle-felting. Unfortunately, I got so caught up in the moment I forgot to take finished pictures of most of the brooches. Oh well. At least this gives a glimpse. I'm going to be teaching a felted animals class in January and will get to show some of the pics from the PowerPoint I put together from when I was teaching at NIU. When I get a chance I'll post some of the pics from this slide show though am not sure about copyright issues. Hopefully its OK. Here are the pics from the workshop with permission from the lovely ladies. The first one shows the room set up (transforming my living room into a studio) and then the felting frenzy (actually it was both calming and stimulating) then a couple of individual pics of Elana and Kim modeling their brooches that still had wet glue on the back.

Needle-felting workshop and the Creative Process

Am teaching a needle felting workshop today. Very excited. My first in Sacramento. We're making needle felted jewelry for gifts. Will post the before and after pictures later. I love the magic of creativity where you start with blankness or raw material and see what evolves. In teaching, it's fascinating to see which approach people take. I see my job as a facilitator, to nurture and encourage, but also to show techniques and tricks to demystify the technical aspects so that students are empowered to explore and have fun. Often this means challenging the old critical voices. Let's see where today leads us. I'm thinking of making a beaded pomegranate. Pomegranates symbolize life (and fertility) in the Jewish tradition and are associated with the Jewish New Year. They are also a rich symbol in many cultural traditions - plus they are just very beautiful.