Kirkland Session with Moxie

Teaching Philosophy:

With respect, understanding and a love of play, I strive to create a class atmosphere where students can experiment and explore. I love providing open-ended, student-driven workshops, where I facilitate learning but leave lots of room for discovery. Although I thrive on all forms of creativity, my true passion is the art of Needle Felting.

Teaching Experience:

Spreading the felting joy everywhere I go, I have taught thousands of adults and kids to create art from wool fiber in dozens of settings, including private parties, staff gatherings, organized craft nights, the Frye Art Museum, KidsQuest Museum and two day open-ended workshops for over 500 people at the 2007 and 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire.

My Own Work:

In addition to being featured by Craft Magazine and BoingBoing.net, my work has been in several shows including:
- PLUSHED :: art gone soft, Purdue University, IN
- PlushYou!, Schmancy, Seattle
- Luv-able + Hug-able, gallery hanahou, New York City

Artist Statement:

My work is play, using humor and irreverence as a way to explore and examine the world, to weigh up human behavior and emotion in all their forms, to call things unsparingly by their proper names.

I seek to convey truth about life and reality, no matter how complex or absurd that may be. I take my point of departure from the complicated time in which we live.

I am invested in the possibilities of cognitive dissonance. I like questions more than answers. I'm attracted to anger as an energy. I believe in the high-five.

Experimental and self-taught, I communicate through fiber alchemy, reveling in the transformation of soft, comforting wool fiber into art objects that are solid to the touch. My work uses no water, knitting, sewing, stuffing, embroidery or glue... I sculpt using only my hands, wool fiber, industrial felting needles and time.

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