Artist Statement

My passion for felting stems from a love of wool. Sheep’s wool (and other natural fibres) is an incredible, renewable, diverse, biodegradable, beautiful thing! Working with fibre, and wool in particular, goes back in our DNA to the start of humanity. Handmade felt (what I will be teaching) is the first known fabric: it is made by agitating unspun fibre (wool not yarn). That is the basics. The classes I am offering will take students from the processed fibres to a finished fabric in a matter of hours. Students will learn about the properties of wool and I will offer discussion points regarding fabric choice in our daily lives as we keep our hands busy and our minds open. My interest when creating fabric and sculpture stems from nature in both movement, connections and form. I grew up thinking that I was not artistic... it just took me decades to find my medium. I want to offer students the opportunity to work in a creative form, often unknown and, if known, not seen traditionally as art, which is OK. My goal with these workshops is to introduce students to felting as a form of expression and creativity. There is no right or wrong way: as long as we have three elements - wool, soapy water and friction - we are felting! I will provide all the wool while students are asked to bring basic materials from home (towels/bubble wrap - see class details for specifics).

Biography

Elise Campbell is a textile artist and educator based just outside K’jipuktuk in Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia. She comes from converging lines of settler and mixed ancestry with a history of industrious, creative and homesteading families. Having lived on both the Pacific and Atlantic sides of Canada, her work is heavily influenced by oceanic life and sustainable practices to protect our waters. The versatility and circularity of wool is what draws Elise to fibre as a creative medium. She creates fabric and sculptures that tell stories of ecological movement, environmental stress, and the spectrum of emotion.