Meet Laura!

Laura Berman will be a featured guest artist at our Celebration of Art on October 24th @ the MJCC. The hours are 10-4...Come see us...come meet Laura!

Here's her bio: Creating something with my hands is “what gets me up in the morning”. And, it so happens that I’ve been creating with fibers and textiles since I was child.

I’m a third generation Portlander and fondly remember going to the old Jewish Community Center after Sunday School classes. I now live in the small town of Philomath outside of Corvallis with my husband who is also an artist. I believe my passionate interest in textiles and apparel must be genetic because I can’t explain my early infatuation with it, otherwise. I earned both my Bachelors and Masters degrees in those majors from Oregon State University and now have my own fiber studio on our property adjoining my husband’s ceramic studio.

These past 20 years I’ve created clothing and experimented with textile design. About 10 years ago I learned to felt and since then have been nuno felting wool with silk for scarves and also making 3-dimensional whimsical lidded vessels. I’ve developed most of the 3-D techniques I use.

I love being outdoors and am inspired by Mother Nature’s colors, shapes, and textures. I’m also inspired by the colors and patterns of period and ethnic textiles. Through play and experimentation in the studio, an idea often develops its own whimsical persona and charm. The unplanned pieces usually end up as my favorite work.

My medium is primarily Australian merino wool for its fine texture. The wool top is already dyed but I have the freedom of blending fiber colors for shading, variegation, or hue changes as if I were mixing paints.

Wet felting by hand is very physical. I begin a project by laying out several layers of wool colors that I coax into shapes with dry hands. I add soap, water, friction by rolling, and then hot water. The hairy fibers lock together through shrinkage to become a finished piece--without being sewn. The woolly fibers might look delicate but they “bond” together to form a very strong fabric when felted.

www.lauraberman.com