Courtesy of Compass Music and Arts Center
Felted art by Muffy Kashkin Grollier will be on exhibit at Compass Music and Arts Center in Brandon. Shown: Mountain Goat, Merlin’s Tree, and Humpty, all by Grollier.
Friday, April 3 at 5 p.m. — BRANDON — Compass Music and Arts Center presents a new exhibit of felted paintings and mixed media work by Muffy Kashkin Grollier, “Flora, Fauna and Fantasy.” The exhibit will run from April 3 through May 31, with an opening reception on April 3 from 5 – 7 p.m., at which the artist will give a short demonstration of her technique at 6 p.m.
Muffuy Kashkin Grollier started felting about eight years ago with three-dimensional characters, before discovering the joys of painting with wool “two-dimensionally.” However, her paintings are far from two-dimensional. The felting process allows for results similar to a bas-relief, giving the work a sense of depth almost as if it were sculpted.
Felted paintings are created by layering fibers of wool onto a “canvas” – a thin piece of pre-felted wool batting – using felting needles to join the fibers together with those in the “canvas.” Grollier incorporates techniques she learned from watercolor and pastel painting into her work and explains how similar this technique is to working with pastels. “Like pastels, you layer color over color so when you needle them in, the color underneath affects the color on top. It is a lengthy process but almost like meditation when I am working on a piece.” She goes on to say “I have worked with pastels, watercolors and colored pencils but I like the needle felting best. I like the textural feel of the fiber; it’s like the living spirit of the sheep is in the fiber and helps to bring the painting alive.”
Grollier has exhibited her mixed media art and felted paintings of flowers, animals, trees, fantasy scenes and three-dimensional dolls in juried shows at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vt. and the Plymouth Arts Guild in Plymouth, Mass.
The Compass Music and Arts Center is located in Park Village at 333 Jones Drive, Brandon. For more info, visit www.cmacvt.org.
