One of my big summer projects is an outdoor felt installation created for the juried exhibition LandArt @ ArtCraft. I have been fascinated with Land Art for many years and allowed the whisperings of a felt installation to roam around in my imagination...When the call for entry for [...]
‘SHIFT’ includes oil paintings by visual artist Barbra Edwards and sculptural feltmaking by fibre artist Fiona Duthie. Both artists use local, natural materials and subject matter in their work with a focus on texture, layers, and colour relationships. Although the artists feel a deep artistic connection, their works are produced [...]
This is a very special project. The first online exhibition of the Surface Design Online Challenge. The Surface Design Online program is all about experimentation and pushing yourself further into techniques, whether they are new to you, or familiar friends. I created this challenge and exhibition to continue this [...]
To close off my teaching season, I decided to give myself a creative gift, and become a student for a weekend. It was such a refreshing and informative time. Even outside of learning new skills under the extremely talented ceramicist, Julie MacKinnon. The workshop was held on the my first [...]
All of the exhibition pieces for full(filled) are just about finished. Each work is now getting individual attention each day, making it ready for installation on Tuesday. The exhibition is in quite a small but interesting space. This means there are not many pieces in the show- one very [...]
The Valhallas- the view from our cabin.... In my book of everything (my special black book that some of you will know!) this year is looking just fantastic, and got off to a wonderful beginning with some quiet personal time in a most beautiful place. The Valhalla Ranges in British [...]
Katia Mokeyeva and I are absolutely delighted to announce a workshop series to be offered this April at the Okanagan School of the Arts in Penticton, BC. The idea is to create a mix and match workshop combination where students can chose an assortment of classes, learn very different felting [...]
Registration is now open for the four online felting classes I'll be offering in Spring 2015. The Surface Design Online class has gotten bigger every time I've offered it....there is always just one more idea that comes up, related to the materials. Because of this and student feedback from [...]
I have been working in one version of my most perfect place... there are several variations on this... but this is definitely a good one. The Okanagan is beautiful. And home to Canada's best wines, including some amazing reds. I'm staying on the Naramata bench, right on the KVR [...]
Wool fibres can be used like paints, laid out to create surface colour changes, but also combined in layers to build new colors through shadowing. We can also use this simple technique to create a shift or transition in colour progression. It can be easier to imagine how to [...]
Hegira He·gi·ra hiˈjīrə,ˈhejərə/ : any flight or journey to a more desirable or congenial place. Usually an exodus or migration. C16: from Medieval Latin, from Arabic hijrah: emigration or flight This is the sisterdress to Migration. I wanted to take the wishbone sculptural elements and use them in larger, [...]
The dates and details are set for a relaxing, revitalizing, energizing fall felting retreat - I am so looking forward to this event! The retreat will run on October 3, 4, 5, 2014, at Meech Lake, Quebec, just outside Ottawa. All of the details are described below...please just contact me [...]
The layouts in this series of dress sculptures were so complex. There were often multiple layers of resists, or else multiple layers of patterning. The designs had to be thought through in that reverse thinking way required when working with resists, and also with transparencies, opacities, and inclusions. My [...]
Migration with Day Tripper and Night Dance in the background The SHIFT exhibition opening was a wonderful night! The show was very well attended by an enthusiastic audience. To open the show, only Barbra Edwards's dramatic paintings were in the exhibition space. Beautiful World and Form Speaks to [...]
Yesterday I finished the last piece for my exhibition...a little background for you, written as I worked. Here I am....on the day of the photo shoot of my most recent work. One day before the installation, and two days before the big opening and fashion show. And I'm taking [...]
SHIFT : exploring layers of perspective July 11- August 1 10:00am-5:00pm ArtCraft Gallery, 114 Rainbow Road Salt Spring Island A joint exhibition of work by Barbra Edwards, visual artist, and Fiona Duthie, fibre artist, at Salt Spring Island's ArtCraft Gallery. Fiona's work in this exhibition features new sculptural felt garments [...]
a treasured gift from my friend els @ fiber rainbow Like Spring Bulbs and New Leaves.... As the Surface Design Online class ends, and my teaching schedule for the season closes, I find myself in an interesting transitional space. One that has been more challenging to move through than I [...]
I'm really looking forward to this workshop. We have a great space- very large, open airy and bright. Lots of room to move and work and think. Plus it takes place at the same time as the opening of my upcoming exhibition at ArtCraft. This exhibition is a collection [...]
Comparing wool roving and wool batting was once one of the foundations of the Surface Design class, but that exploration felt most possible for in person classes. I include the fibers in the online Surface Design class, as I think it's a benefit for everyone to experience working with fibres [...]
Teaching a most marvelous experience! It invites to teacher to share their skills and provides wonderful opportunities to refine our techniques both before the classes in preparation, but also during.... The spring class of Surface Design Online is in session, and it is just so much fun...It is amazing to [...]
view from my classroom I've just arrived home from a very beautiful trip. As mentioned before, Texas was fantastic- such a great group of creative people. I had a few days before the beginning of the Felters Rendezvous and I had some writing to complete, so I created a little [...]
I left on a great fiber adventure this week... I've been traveling in the United States, completely immersed in felt making and fiber art. First stop was the beautiful Craft Guild of Dallas. It is an amazing facility, with purpose built and architecturally designed studios for many mediums. I gave an artist lecture [...]
Registration for my Surface Design Online- Spring Session is now open! The class will start on April 5th and run until May 17th. All of the workshop information is available on my website: https://www.fionaduthie.com/surface-design-in-feltmaking-online-workshop/ I'm holding a little draw to thank everyone for their enthusiastic support of this new class. [...]
I feel as though I'm at the end of a long trip, and as wonderful as the experience has been and as much as I am loving every minute of it, I'm starting to look forward to being home, with friends and family. In this case, home is here, [...]
How could I miss Claudy Jongstra! CLaudy Jongstra from De Ketelfactory on Vimeo. Just listen to her passion for her process....local wools, natural dyes, scale, aesthetic....oooo.really.stunning. She was not in my mind over the new year, but has been an inspiration to me for years now. Everything about what she [...]
As I've been doing my planning and thinking and organizing and writing for all things 2014, three women have stood out as role models for me, in progressing in my work. They don't know it, and it is only through my observations from afar that they influence me, but [...]
I'm so excited to be able to offer the Surface Design in Feltmaking workshop in an online format. It's taken many months of thinking and planning to get everything in place, with the teaching materials presented in a way that I feel best meets the needs of the students. [...]
This is a bit of a catch up post...Some work from 2013 I didn't share here. Facebook friends will have seen these images, but I missed writing about them here in the midst of the busy-ness that was Fall. These pieces and the photographs were an important part of my [...]
I've been having some fun this last week/weekend doing some felt consultancy work for Pollika. Pollika are a fibre company based in Vancouver who are the North American distributors for many European brands, including De Witte Engel and Painters Threads. I've been working with them to develop felting kits for [...]
These last two weeks I've been making the last arrangements and samples for my 2014 classes, which will have a strong emphasis in surface design. This is such an exciting topic, and my favourite theme for exploration in the studio. The spikes above are a new addition to the [...]
