Earth Felt 2.32

Gwen Martinuk - Felt Artist
I started my artistic journey of self expression over thirty years ago via the medium of stained glass with a progression to deep etch blasting or carving glass using high pressure. Following ten years of glass work, I began work with fibre in various forms such as silk painting and quilted wall hangings. It wasn’t until the past seven years that I finally discovered a medium in the form of wool that has great appeal to me as it is a true gift from nature. This awareness provided me with a much broader opportunity to express my inner most thoughts and feelings in an effort to reflect the natural world of spirit and with it the interconnectedness of all things. I love working with wool. It can be morphed into just about anything including wearable art, three dimensional sculptured pieces, wall hangings and masks and much more.
Starting out as a self taught felter for several years in order to gain basic knowledge and skills, I then set a new goal of learning and using more advanced skills and techniques taught by well established felt masters. Over the last several years I had the privilege of receiving instruction from a number of highly skilled and internationally known felt artists including Charlotte Buch, from Denmark and Hellevi Huse of Norway, Marjolein Dallinga, Montreal, and Sharon Costello from the US. Each of these established artists creates incredibly beautiful pieces of felt art and has provided inspiration for myself and many others throughout the world. Having said this, my main mentor and source of endless inspiration comes from the natural environment in the form of water, fire, air and earth.
Thanks for visiting my site!
earthfelt@shaw.ca