I sculpt in wool in order to explore and exploit its unique physical and conceptual possibilities.
To create wool sculpture I use a process called felting, which refers to compressing and matting individual fibers into a united solid mass through use of heat, pressure, moisture, or mechanical means. In industrial use, machines compress wool into sheets of felt mechanically by repeatedly plunging beds of sharp, barbed felting needles into loose wool to mat the fibers together. I use the same technique on a smaller scale and work wool with a hand-held felting needle to create three-dimensional solid sculpture. The majority of my felted wool sculpture is self-supporting, however standing figures incorporate a simple wire armature for rigidity.
For me the appeal of wool lies both in pushing its physical possibilities as a sculpting medium and in its suitability for the subject matter that interests me. Felted wool is organic, soft, and pliable, yet strong and hardy—perfect for realistic studies of humans and animals that exemplify those qualities. A firm grounding in realism and an understanding of the form and physiology of living things is the starting point in my sculpture.
In my recent work two branches of investigation have grown out of my thinking about how human beings affect and interpret the natural world. The first is a series of animals that display the results of selective breeding taken to a ridiculous extreme. The attributes that make them useful, marketable, and convenient for human use are blissfully short-sighted and human-centric. Part of my wicked delight in creating such creatures is the awareness that these are not pure science fiction—for example, the proliferation of dog breeds specifically bred for a variety of uses and aesthetics is testimony to the way people very pointedly direct the evolution of species by determining which individuals will pass on their genes.
My other investigation is a pseudo-scientific study of the morphology of skulls: the form and structures that differentiate one breed from another and give a sense of the story of the individual. My approach is to research, document, present, and interpret evidence in a formal manner. My subject species is the teddy bear: a creature made by humans (and made ‘alive’ by imagination) whose morphological history is tied to social trends. My idea of ‘logical’ evidence (a stuffed animal would have a skull made of felt) becomes an emotionally loaded image that brings up a wide range of responses and proves to be ripe for further exploration.
As I continue to experiment with wool I find that the material itself fuels my ideas and my approach to sculpting. Using an uncommon medium draws attention to the qualities of that medium, and feeds into the subjects I choose, the process for realizing the forms, and the messages embodied in the work.
