Tuesday 9 October 2012

Fabulous Felt Exhibitions

On Sunday Kirsty and I enjoyed a fantastic day out in Perthshire visiting two exhibitions of stunning felt work and walking in the autumnal woodland.

Our first stop was 'The Dying of the Sun' at the Bield in Perth. This exhibition has been organised to co-incide with International Felt Day, which this year has the theme of 'Fire'.  It was great to see different interpretations of the theme by feltmakers from all around the world.  Here's a selection.

Katharine Huggett

Tracy Markey

Penny Dixon

Angela Barrow

Jackie Lunn


Tessa Mendez

Mattie van del Heuvel


Tessa Mendez

This shows part of a collaborative piece with contributions sent from individual felt makers 
including my bloggy friend, Ali.

This stone circle with the sun above it must have taken an awful lot of felting!


From Perth we drove to Birnam where we visited an exhibition called 'Felt Excited' which showcased work by the Scottish branch of the International Feltmakers Association. 


Heather Potten

Jenny Mackay

Jennifer Alexander


The venue, the Birnam Institute, is a beautiful building, community owned and largely run by volunteers.  It's really quite an incredible achievement, and there's a very impressive programme of events of all sorts going on throughout the year.

The building houses a permanent Beatrix Potter exhibition and the garden outside reflects this theme.
Here's Peter Rabbit and friends.


 Close by we came across the narrowest bridge we've ever seen!


We went in search of the famous Birnam Oak - all that remains of the ancient woodland made famous by the witches' prophecy in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'.  Our walk took us alongside the wide River Tay.  


Here's the mighty oak.  
"Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until 
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
 Shall come against him."


 It has a girth of 7 metres and the first 3 metres inside are hollow.


Close by is this much younger, (approx 300 years old) but even bigger, sycamore.


What a fab day out - constant sunshine, autumnal colours, fabulous felt and lots of fresh air!  The 150 mile round trip was well worth it!



2 comments:

  1. What a fabulous feast of fine felt Kate! Looks like you and Kirsty had a great day. Isn't it amazing how one word or phrase can have so many different interpretations? Also what an fantastic range of colours shapes and textures from one material!
    Those historical sculptural trees are amazing! ....more inspiration for Fairy Street...Wood Nymph Way maybe?!
    Ali x

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  2. Feltalicious! I had plans to get up to see the exhibition, especially knowing Ali had contributed, but you know how it is with best laid plans. Thanks for giving me a glimpse of it through your eyes.

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