Barbara Schutzgruber – Storyteller & Weaver

[If viewing in an email – click on the title to see the final slideshow]

March 2020 brought a cancellation of all in-person exhibits due to Covid-19. Many of the venues shifted to virtual exhibits which was a marvelous way to see art work from all over the world that I would never have had the opportunity to see in person even before the pandemic. As wonderful as that has been, I’ve really missed being able to see fiber creations in person. There’s just something about actually seeing the textures in a piece – in person – that has always brought the art to life for me.

Summer 2021 has brought the reopening of in-person exhibits! WOO-HOO!!!!

In July the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild will once again have an exhibit of members work at The Village Theater at Cherry Hill in Canton, MI so I pulled out the pieces created in 2020 but did not have the chance to be shown in-person – Hiking the Coastal Path [February 2020 blog] and Fire on the Horizon [November 2020 blog].

For a long time, another piece of felt has been tugging at the back of my mind. Several years ago I had played with felting some two-tone roving just to see what it might do. The result was a solid piece of felt (26″ x 16″) with interesting ridges. It has been sitting in the “Don’t-know-what-to-do-with-this” pile ever since. Every now and then I pull it out but it always ended up back in the pile. With 2 weeks until the AAFG jury session for The Village Theater I decided to see what I might do with it.

First attempt
Wet felt a marsh scene with fireflies (wool) and will-o-the-wisp swamp gas (silk fibers). The new yellow and green wool was able to grip in but the silk was not and the over image was not coming together at all…YIKES!

I turned it 180° and it had a bit more potential as an image of waterfalls.

Luckily I could peel off the now prefelted blue silk and printed out a photo to do a rough sketch of the concept.

Second attempt
The challenge now was how to add the the waterfall details. I learned in the abstract landscape class [January 2020 blog] about beginning with what’s furthest away and ending with the foreground but I was now doing the opposite and I do not have the skills to pull that off!

Third time’s the charm!
By slowly needle felting in details I created Secret Forest (25.5″ x 15.5″).

Taking photos of Secret Forest the sun came through the window onto the piece.
WOW!!! Now I want to figure out how to create this same effect when felting!!!
On to the next adventure…