I received an invitation to make a piece of art for the “March Into Spring” exhibition at The Enrichment Center in Winston-Salem NC (up through May 10th). I have studied female imagery in art and mythology for several decades now and was interested in attempting to sculpt a human body in wool. I love the pregnant female form and know that it is often associated with fertility in primal cultures.

In addition, I have become quite connected with “fertility” and “fecundity” through the planting and harvesting of our food crops and the breeding and raising of chickens and sheep. The invitation to participate in this spring show gave me an opportunity to explore my experiences and understandings via sculpture in wool.

I began by shaping the fullness of pregnancy in the belly and then added the fullness of nourishment in the breasts. There was something that wanted to be unfurled from deep within the woman. I caught sight of a spiraling vine up from a seed nestled deep in the belly and I sculpted that.

By attaching the lovely tiny Icelandic curls into the ends of the legs, arms and neck and laying the whole thing against a backdrop of brown Cotswold wool that had felted while on the sheep, I hoped to express the intertwining of my life with the lives of my sheep.

photographing black needle felted sculptures of dogs is not.

Dylan Ducket is almost a year old.

Standard Poodle with lots of expression. 

I was asked to get the upward looking eyes.

I used some of his real fur for the exterior coat treatment.

This is Zoo.

The real dog belongs to the granddaughter of a dear friend.

The sculpture was her recent birthday gift.

I only had 3 photos to go by since it was a surprise.

I did work some of the real fur into the outer coat treatment though!

I only had 3 photos to go by since it was a surprise.

I did work some of the real fur into the outer coat treatment though!

]]> http://farmgirlarts.com/2013/03/new-sculptures-dogs-dressed-in-black/feed/ 0 http://farmgirlarts.com/2013/02/new-needle-felted-sculpture-kiwi-the-australian-shepherd/ http://farmgirlarts.com/2013/02/new-needle-felted-sculpture-kiwi-the-australian-shepherd/#comments Mon, 18 Feb 2013 16:31:43 +0000 FarmGirlArts http://farmgirlarts.com/?p=455

Meet Kiwi. He’s a lovable, sweet, energetic and smart Australian Shepherd owned by Marguerite Ostreicher’s son. This young man is attending college and misses Kiwi very much. So Marguerite had me sculpt Kiwi in wool as a Xmas gift for her son so he could have Kiwi with him. 

Kiwi has a favorite toy: a large red “Jolly Ball”. It’s his favorite toy ever. So “little Kiwi” had to have a jolly ball, too.

I was able to use Kiwi’s real fur for the exterior finish of the piece. I blended his fur and some dyed wool with my hand cards so it would felt to the surface of the 100% homegrown wool sculpture.

I gathered a few photos from Google images:

And then I went to work. Here are a few photos of my finished tiger:

This is the Cover of the 2013 FarmGirl Arts Animal Sculptures in Wool Calendar.

I chose some of my best photographed sculptures to feature.

Order yours now at:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/115015570/2013-calendar-of-sculpture-originals

I was asked by Ray Teugle, Cheryl’s husband, to sculpt a portrait of Yam for Cheryl’s birthday. I did my best to give Yam a close likeness for my friend Cheryl.

Rest In Peace, Yam.

Left to Right: Single ply Dorset dyed with Goldenrod, Two-ply Dorset dyed with Goldenrod, Two-ply Dorset dyed with Dahlia, Single-ply Grey Suffolk over dyed with Brazil Wood, Single-ply Thick & Thin Jacob dyed with all three.

These are plant dyes I brought home from the Natural Dye Day put on by a local fiber guild. I’ve been waiting for the right time to dye! They will all be for sale except the Thick & Thin Jacob that was dyed with all three colors. I want to play with that myself. A scarf to sell, perhaps. In addition to these yarns, I have Shetland, Llama and Llama/Alpaca blend.

This is the last weekend of the Old Salem Farmers Market, but I will have yarns available at Krankies Craft Fair, December 14th & 15th.

Max the Maine Coon Cat is probably waiting until I leave so he can lay in these skeins!

(Click on the photo to see the details better!)

My main goal is to work in as many of the intricate detailing of tendons and muscles as possible. When I was young, I would draw horses with that level of detail. I loved running my hands over these muscles and tendons on my own living horses after a good ride. 

(Click on the photo to see the details better!)

Right now, the piece stands 9 inches tall at the withers (shoulders) and is 16 inches long from tip of extended front hoof to back hoof. 

(Click on the photo to see the details better!)

Using no armatures so that I could achieve extreme density, I had hoped that the legs would be able to support the body. At this point, it is unlikely that this will be the case. I may have to run a rather thick wire up through the hooves and into the canon bones. We’ll see. 

I have 4 commissions in line right now, so I will have very little time to work on the horse until after the new year. I’ll keep you posted.

This year I took all of my Icelandic Sheep. In the photo above, I took everyone but the grey ewe. I also took my lovely Icelandic Ram, Ingleside Zeke, below.

There aren’t specifically Icelandic sheep classes to show in, so I showed my sheep in the Longwool Breeds classes. Other breeds of sheep in my classes were Lincoln Longwools, Wenslydales, and crossbreeds of Lincoln, Romney, Corriedale, Wenslydales, Liecester, etc.  I showed Zeke in the Longwools White Ram Lamb class and took 1st place. The judge commented on how perfect Zeke’s head and tail were and he loved the condition of his fleece. He wondered aloud if I had washed it or combed it. I had NOT, but I had touched it and fluffed it a lot, because it’s irresistible!!! I learned my lesson about washing my wool show sheep several years ago when I caught flack for washing my Jacob sheep from several breeders (they know who they are). I like not washing sheep!!!! Zeke had to go back for the Championship drive of the Longwool Rams, meaning he had to show against the first place rams in all the age categories and two color categories in this “Breed” Group. I was nervous about this, but Zeke wasn’t. He was named Champion Longwool Ram. From there, I took him into the Supreme Ram class. These were the Champions from all the “Breed Groups” (think “Best in Show”). After walking up and down the line of handsome rams, the judge stood between Zeke and a Montadale ram beside me and wiggled his fingers, felt them again and handed the Supreme Ram ribbon to the Montadale while saying to me, “on another day, it may have been you.” I take that as a “Reserve Supreme Ram”, but there is no award given.

With the help of my sheep showing friends, my two yearling ewes showed in the Longwool Breed Colored yearling class. Ingleside Yuliana took 1st place and Stoney Meadows Canidce took 2nd. In the Longwool Breed Colored ewe Lamb class, Stoney Meadows Deva took 2nd and FarmGirl’s Darla took 4th. I didn’t get photos of them with their ribbons, but here are some shots of them.

My sheep placed in other classes in fleece classes, pairs and my flock was 6th or so out of 15. A very good show day!!

In addition to showing sheep, this year I was lucky enough to share a booth with two friends of mine who breed Jacob Sheep: Linda Bjarkman of Patchwork Farm and Fiber and Cathy Robinson of Perfect Spot Farm. I brought dyed and natural colors of needle felting wool from my father-in-law’s Suffolk Sheep and other needle felting supplies. I sold quite a bit and I needle felted for hours while people shopped. Except on Sunday because I was showing sheep.

Many people stopped by to watch, ask questions and talk. I enjoyed meeting so many people AND it was tiring!

Next year, I will not have booth space. While I did make some money doing that, I did not have the “vacation” I usually enjoy while at SAFF. In fact, I didn’t even get to make my way around to all the booths! I enjoyed visiting with my relatives in Asheville and my new and old sheep friends and of course, hanging with the sheep was tremendous!!

of my sculptures they commissioned or were given.

Here are three.

This is the real Seymour with my sculpture of him.

“Who’s this guy trying to fool?”

My first elephant, Matriarch, is standing tall

among the other elephants in a collection in New York.

Here is my son Josh’s dog Simba with little Simba sculpture.
“You don’t like that thing more than me, do you?”