Fiona Duthie – Feltmaker from Canada
Fiona Duthie is a felt maker recognized for her dynamic, sculptural clothing and artwork. In her most recent Big Ink pieces, she’s been working with silk and paper embedded in wool fibres which are then used as a canvas for bold, fluid brushstrokes in ink. These works celebrate the nurturing of our internal coals of potential; flaming these into life through strong gestures.
Fiona is coming to Australia in early 2019, with an exhibition at Timeless Textiles, in Newcastle, running from 13 February to 10 March. As well as a workshop at Timeless Textiles, she is also teaching with Felt Wear Able in Melbourne, Grampian Textures, Evocative Arts in Adelaide and Nelson, NZ. Many of these classes are full or filling quickly. If you are not able to attend one of these in person classes, Fiona also offers a very popular series of online felting workshops.
Her newest class, Foundations in Felt Garments Online, is extremely popular, with students from all over the world creating at least four different felt garments over the twelve week class. Many of the previous students used Treetops Colour Harmonies Silk Paj or Silk Mesh in their class projects with stunning results. Fiona recommends these materials for this class, saying that “the beautiful blending of colours that Nancy produces in her silk and wool fibres guarantees a gorgeous end result. The materials are of such high quality and the colours so well composed, this simplifies our design process and brings greater satisfaction in our felt work. We can add as much of our personal creative signature as we wish, or keep our projects very simple and let the materials sing for themselves. The results are always stunning!”
Fiona strives for excellence in design and technique, while furthering the medium of felt through the use of new material combinations. Fiona has a full-time studio practice based on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia and has exhibited her work in Canada, the US, New Zealand, the UK and Australia.
Thie below Big Ink Red Dress reflect pieces that can be made in her in-person workshops in Melbourne and Nelson in 2019. This piece uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Heartache.
The Big Ink Felt Wing image shows a new piece in a body of work for the exhibition in Newcastle, and uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Heartache, plus Silk Mesh in Ironbark.
The images shown below all reflect projects from the Foundations in Felt Garments Workshop. The Capelet uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Tamarillo, The Cape uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Silverback. and the Red Vest with Godets uses 4.5 momme Silk Paj in the Colour Harmony Heartache.
Click here for Fiona’s Website.
Click here for Fiona’s Online Workshops.