Felted Wool
25" x 34"
I first discovered felted wool while studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At the time, I was taking classes in the Fashion Department, and I became fascinated—and eventually obsessed—with the idea of using fabric not simply as something to wear or decorate, but as a way to create art.
I wanted to see how far I could push the material. I created a 60-inch-diameter piece entirely from felted wool, a work that was later acquired by the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science. That experience stayed with me. I was captivated by the texture, the physicality, and the way something as soft and tactile as wool could become an image. But I also learned how demanding the process was. Felting wool requires an enormous amount of patience, time, and attention, and for years I moved on to other materials.
Recently, I felt the desire to return to it.
In The Lady and the Butterfly VI, I created a woman in profile, surrounded by flowers, a dragonfly, and a butterfly. I wanted the figure to feel peaceful and inward, as if she were completely present within herself. The butterfly represents freedom and transformation, while the dragonfly adds another sense of movement and change.
But the idea of freedom is not only represented in the imagery—it is built into the work itself. I allowed the felted wool to move beyond the tapestry and onto the frame. I did not want the frame to become a boundary that tells the artwork where it must stop. The wool crosses that line, just as the butterfly moves freely beyond the limits of the image.
For me, this became the most important part of the piece: what happens when we stop allowing boundaries to define us?
The softness and tactile nature of the wool, the flowers, and the movement of the butterfly come together to create a quiet reflection on transformation and freedom. Returning to felted wool after so many years has allowed me to rediscover something I first encountered in Chicago—and to approach it now with a much deeper understanding of what the material can become.
