Carolyn Wright

May 1st-31st , 2012

The wonderful felted creations of Carolyn Wright will be featured for the month of May 2012. Stop into the Meredith Gallery to see her playful rabbits, wooly sheep, horses, camels, cows, and other fun critters! Carolyn will be here on Saturday May 5th, from 11am – 2pm demonstrating the art of needle felting and answering any of your questions.

Carolyn is a NH native – she grew up in Hopkinton, met her husband of 35 years at UNH, and has lived in South Sutton for the last 6 years. She has three grown children and four grandchildren. Carolyn says her husband tolerates the loss of a corner in the living room for her fiber “obsession,” and the he is both her biggest supporter and harshest critic, with a wonderful eye for the details.Carolyn’s needle felting all started with the purchase of a book.

“My sister-in-law and I were in a local knitting shop and we both saw a book with needle felted penguins on the cover (Wool Pets by Laurie Sharp). I have seen felted things over the years, predominantly Christmas ornaments, and had a basic idea of how they were made, but had never tried it myself. When my sister-in-law offered to buy the book if I would make the first project for her, I took her up on the offer.  I have finally found my craft. I am hooked on fiber of all kinds, anything that will felt with a needle. The colors and textures and variations are endless and I know that there is more out there to experience. I’ve discovered a whole new “fiber” world in our state that I didn’t know existed. My brother and I are even collaborating on the processing of his animal fiber, various breeds of sheep and llamas, for the arts. It has been so exciting!I continue to learn and revel in what still feels new and will continue to create with the encouragement and love of my family.”  

 

Kathleen Peters

June 1st-30th , 2012

The felted fiber art of Kathleen Peters will be featured for the month of June 2012. Kathleen is our first guest speaker in our “Series of Excellence” Summer Lecture Series, on June 4th from 7:00pm-8:00pm at the Chase House in Meredith. On June 9th, from 11am-2pm she will be in-house at the Meredith Gallery answering questions and demonstrating the different processes involved with crafting felted pictures and vessels from start to finish.

Kathleen is also running a felting class on June 23rd – please see our Lecture, Spirit of the Maker Demonstrations, and Education pages for more information on any of these events.

Kathleen’s route to becoming a fiber artist has been a meandering one. While working as a heat transfer engineer for 3M, in her spare time she explored many traditional crafts including quilting, knitting, stained glass, pottery and woodworking. She especially enjoyed working with fiber because of the vast array of textures and its tactile nature. A good friend introduced her to felting with wool, opening a new world of creativity.

“For me, felting is entwined with engineering,” explains Kathleen. “To achieve heirloom quality work, one must understand how the wool fibers interact on the microscale. This understanding enables me to project what the finished project will be and how to manipulate the fibers to achieve my vision.” Kathleen’s love for wool, and the excitement of wanting to share her discoveries led her to become a juried member of the League.

Her inspiration is the natural environment. “Many of my works are images of places I have travelled to and from my community. However, the pieces are intended to evoke an emotional experience rather than replicate the sights,” says Kathleen. “My pieces capture moments of silence and reflection, which I can share with others who long to retreat from the world’s confusion. When I make felt, it is a peaceful process, when all the mumbo jumbo sifts away to leave something beautiful and timeless.”

 

July – Coming Soon!

Under The Sea Exhibit

 

Kiranada Sterling Benjamin

August 1st – 31st, 2012

The beautiful Japanese textile art of Kiranada Sterling Benjamin will be featured for the month of August 2012. Stop into the Meredith Gallery to see these one of a kind pieces and learn more about how they are created. Join us on August 13th, from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, and meet Kiranada and see her “Rozome Techniques” demonstration, which uses liquid dye and molten wax to create beautiful textures and designs on fabric. Join us later in the day to hear Kiranada speak more in depth about her craft, from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm at the Chase House in Meredith, as a part of our “Series of Excellence” Summer Lecture Series.

Kiranada Sterling Benjamin is an award-winning international artist, researcher and author specializing in Japanese textiles. Her training, research and love of resist patterned cloth culminated in The World of Rozome: Wax Resist Textiles of Japan (1996, 2002), the first book in English on the topic and an “acknowledged classic on contemporary fine art of wax resist.”

Her exhibitions included solo shows in Asia, Europe, Central America and the U.S. She has lectured on Japanese costume and wax-resist textiles at the Smithsonian Institution, Oxford University, Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Japan Foundation, Kyoto. She is the coordinator of the “World Batik Conference-Boston 2005” at Massachusetts College of Art, and curator of “The Rozome Masters of Japan Exhibition” that toured the USA in 2005 – 2006.

“Painting with "hot wax and liquid dyes on thirsty cloth" is an apt way to describe the work I do. My background in fibers includes training in the Japanese kimono industry and research in the traditional Japanese classical arts; from scoll painting, tea ceremony to literature.”

For over eighteen years she lived in Kyoto, Japan where she taught at Doshisha and Kyoto Sangyo Universities, participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, and wrote on textiles for the Mainichi Daily News and other publications. The recipient of grants from the Japan Foundation, the Sasakawa Foundation, the Daiwa-Anglo Japanese Foundation, New Zealand Center for Japanese Studies she now teaches at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.

“My work reflects 18 years of life in Kyoto as well as impressions from winter studios in Spain, Costa Rica and Indonesia. Working with applied dyes, and hot wax on silk is a meditative process for me; centering and ecstatic; both planned and spontaneous. I work with color and pattern, layering and mark making with resist-dye techniques, using the materials of acid dye, silk fabric and ganryo pigment.”

 

 

Donald Briere

September 1st – 30th, 2012

The work of Master Woodturner Donald Briere will be featured throughout the month of September at the Meredith Gallery. Donald is also our final guest speaker for the season in our “Series of Excellence” Summer Lecture Series on September 10th, from 7:00pm-8:00pm at the Chase House in Meredith. Donald will talk about his unique creative processes and his love of woodturning for the past 15+ years. See our Lecture page for additional details.

Using domestic and exotic hardwoods along with semi-precious stones, Donald creates segmented woodturnings that range from those with just a couple of pieces to more intricate ones with thousands.

In 2009 Donald won Best in Show at the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair at the Mt. Sunapee resort, in "Living With Crafts.”  “As far back as I can remember I have always loved being around wood. Whether it be spending hours, or in some case days, in the woods fishing, hiking etc., or the smell of the trees, getting out of my Dad's truck at a saw mill and stepping onto all the wood chips in the yard and then seeing all the different types of woods being processed. In high school I took a woodworking class and made my Mother a napkin-holder out of a piece of pine. Using all the different types of machinery simply mesmerized me.

After leaving high school I went to work building houses. I later started my own business building houses and about 14 years ago a friend showed me how to turn a segmented candy dish on a lathe; that I also gave to my Mom. Segmented turning has become my passion and enables me to incorporate the past, present, and future into timeless pieces. I guess the rest is history!”