The speaker at our February Meeting was the talented felt maker Valerie Wartelle. Born of French / Scottish parents, Valerie had what many of us would consider to be an idyllic childhood, living in Paris and spending the summer in the south of France at her grandparents' home, before moving to New Caledonia, a small French territory to the east of Australia. She returned to France in 1974 to attend High School.
Valerie's first foray into the world of textiles came when she did an Art Foundation Course at Braintree College, then continued to a BSc (Hons) in Textile Design at what was then Huddersfield Polytechnic. Because this was a science degree, there was great emphasis on understanding the materials, and technical expertise, including the dyeing of fabrics, and different finishes.
For her final piece, Valerie "rescued" a door from the yard of her student accommodation and kept it in the workshop, assiduously spraying it to keep the mossy finish it had gained from living outside. She loved the layers of peeling paint and they were the inspiration for her body of work, including this cardigan, which you can see is a different colour on the inside.
After working for 10 years as a knitwear designer, Valerie moved away from direct involvement in textiles, returning in 2012, having been introduced to wet felting by a friend. Valerie told us that she likes responding to what the fabric is doing, rather than working towards an end point.
As well as using wool to create shape, images and colour, Valerie uses it to trap other fibres and fabrics in an almost invisible way, using the techniques of Nuno felting to "stick" different textures to each other. She often uses pre-felt as a backing and attaches silk organza or chiffon pieces, trapping hemp or flax fibres to "draw" on the surface. She adds details to her pieces in several ways, including photo transfer and machine embroidery.
Initially she worked from her kitchen table for 3 days a week, meaning that the family had to have a lot of takeaways! In 2014 she was able to give up working for Kirklees Council to concentrate on her art, and now has studio space at Artworks, Halifax, where she is able to do more experimental work using a large printing press and screen printing. Her current body of work illustrates Valerie's interest in fossils and insects.
These pieces have a subtlety not usually found in felted work, which comes from the work being printed and then re-felted.
In 2015 Valerie was named "Best Emerging Textile Artist" by Embroidery magazine and awarded "Best Picture in Show" at the Great North Art Show in Ripon*.
She is currently running workshops at Word of Mouth in Hebden Bridge, and a Artworks, Halifax.
Valerie's talk was followed by our stupendous colour-themed raffle...
*This year's Great North Art Show is held at Ripon Cathedral from 2nd - 24th September.
