Jane Whelen Banks
ABOUT Jane
When I first saw the swirling, textured wool fibers drawn up against puckering silks, the strings and bobbles, and the endless forms and mysterious shapes that shrinking wool could take, I knew I was in love with felting. For me, it is as magical now as it was 20 years ago, when I first discovered felt making at a community market on Hornby Island.
Immediately inspired, I have taken multiple workshops from amazing fiber artists and have watched countless DIY You Tube videos on the craft. I love to forage, recycle and re-create. Scouring yard sales, Craig’s List, and second-hand stores for old silk scarves, sarees and wool scraps, is for me, like panning for gold. I scrounge through junk sites and abandoned buildings for corroded metal objects like chains, cans, sprockets and nails which can be used on vinegar-soaked silk to create rich, radiant rust prints.
I am attracted to the irregular, imperfect, unusual and unexpected which I love to make into functional pieces and useable art.
Wine Cooler
2023, 12"x10", wool felt
Neck collar
2020, silk, wool
scarf/shawl
rust and indigo dyed silk on merino, nuno felt.