Etsy

Background:
I was inspired by the love of my now 7 1/2 year old daughter, Eva...aka, Nushkie... to create natural toys and homemade clothes for her. My favorite material for toys and collectibles is wool.

I am a native New Yorker, transplanted to Los Angeles. I have enjoyed an extensive career in the arts, from the opera and theater to film production to graphic arts. I live in Reseda, CA with my husband and beloved daughter, Eva. In this quasi urban setting, I have planted 14 fruiting trees and planted food bearing plants everywhere to create an edible landscape and naturally beautiful and rustic setting for my child to romp and graze. I began mastering my skills with fiber in 2006, when my daughter began her Waldorf journey and I became inspired by the art incorporated into Waldorf education.

My goal is to create soft sculptures, toys and works of art of the highest quality and from natural materials that one can feel…with the fingertips, with the eyes, with the heart and with the soul.

These standing and hanging figures and "sculptural wool paintings" do not attempt to recreate the look of paint with lots of intricate detail, rather they act more like sculptures. I am greatly inspired by Rodin. Each piece is three-dimensional, and in each of the sculptural wool paintings, the focal point seeks to capture an emotional moment ...usually between two beings. Sometimes they're human, sometimes magical beings.

I am hoping that in these impressionistic pieces, and in all my work, adults and children alike will see the movement of the characters and feel the love that exudes from them.

The world has enough fear, enough suffering, greed, rage, apathy, and cynicism. It is filled with adults, after all. Here I explore stepping back to a more childlike sense of things, to a world in which there can be more wonder, more playfulness, magic, beauty and hope.

I believe that in our challenging world, going back to what's pure, simple and childlike may help us find the imagination to make change reality.

I also believe that if these pieces stir the emotions of compassion, kindness, magic, and wonder, perhaps those feelings will travel from person to person and begin the healing the world is waiting for.

My pieces are created using the fiber art technique of Needle felting, wherein the artist uses a specialized needle to poke fibers hundred or thousands of times to sculpt the fleece into the desired shape. My materials include organic wool, merino wool fibers, silk fiber and wire. There is no pre-fabricated base. The “canvas” or base is all wool fleece --wool which has been cleaned end carded (i.e., combed), but not spun into yarn. The only use of wire is for arms, legs tree branches, etc. The rest is natural fiber.

Please enjoy the work! And thank you!!