Friday, March 20, 2009

Palace Yurt



I never realized how many applications felt could be put to until yesterday when attending the Fashioning Felt show at Cooper Hewitt. Mongolians make felt with raw wool, spread out on "mother wool pads" then moistened, rolled up, and hauled around the flat ground by camels or horses until the agitation creates a joining of the many threads to a single sheet.

Above is a picture of a "palace yurt" created with silk and felt and installed in the conservatory where sunlight filters through the diamond patterns the artist Janice Arnold made.

Another artist made her wall of felt dyed with madder and St. Johns wort -- vivid orange and red hues that attracted me like a magnet, made me want to rub up against them. She had designed these as a cure for melancholia.