I will be at the Greyfriars Church Hall (corner of 182 Iffley Road and Jackdaw Lane) with the East Oxford Art Collective (https://bio.site/eastoxfordartcollective). There will be lots of different art forms to look at, from ceramics and linocut to watercolours, painting and jewellery, as well as refreshments from Silvie's cafe. I will have some wool tops as examples of the different breeds of sheep, and will do small-scale demonstrations of how wetfelting works.
The main driver for my creations is how I relate to the materials I use, and how the materials react to my input. Having worked daily with a musical instrument as a professional musician for decades, I always saw it not so much as a tool, but a part of me that has its own will (and limitations). It taught me how relating to my surroundings (material, people, time) - a constant give and take - can yield a lot of satisfying returns and how to be more accepting of myself and others. With my craft/art, I initially worked with reactive paints and resins, but got too worried about the environmental impact of these materials. A fascination for texture and unpredictability of materials brought me via fluid art to working more and more with wool and various one-off print techniques (on gel plate or glass). Wetfelting - the process of agitating wool fibres with water, soap and muscle power - can be used to create perfect smooth sculptures or well-fitting slippers, but I am more interested in letting the fibres do their own thing, within the parameters that I set. With the one-off print techniques, particularly with creating coral-like shapes on a glass plate, one never quite knows what emerges, which is the main attraction and fascination for me.