u/jgklausner

Just finished a small installation made to inhabit a ledge. The pigeon is needle felted wool, with clay beak and feet, and clay and resin eyes. The twigs are clay, wire and paint.

This piece is about soft things in hard places, and comfort built in inhospitable conditions. As a disabled person, I often feel my comfort is built in an environment of inhospitality. I am drawn to the images of birds who have used the harsh steel of bird spikes as structure to build their nests. Ironically, the steel wire makes a strong warp on which to weave the weft of a home.

[Mods, I'm very sorry if this is not in keeping with the self-promotion guidelines - if so, of course take it down!]

Folks in this sub have been so wonderfully supportive and enthusiastic, and periodically asked about if my work was viewable anywhere, so I wanted to share that for the month of July, some of it is!

So excited to share this work publicly in person for the first time. If anyone here is in the New England (USA) area, come check out "There Goes the Neighborhood" at APE Arts in Northampton, MA!

So excited to share this work publicly in person for the first time! If anyone here is in the New England (USA) area, come check out "There Goes the Neighborhood" at APE Arts in Northampton, MA!

A solid month of full-time stabbing (and a VERY sore arm), and I've completed by far my largest piece ever: this 5'x11' wool "mural" depicts a soil profile found in Massachusetts (it's actually our state soil profile, the Paxton!) The bones (rabbit) are needle felted and covered with felters wax, then given depth with pastel pigment. The worms are felted, stitched, waxed, and pigmented. The ants are beaded and embroidered. The wool used for the B and C horizons was all from one sheep!

Full materials list: Wool, beeswax, glass beads, freshwater pearl beads, thread, pastel pigment.

This was made to be a companion piece to "My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" (shown in the last few images) which shows the incredible depths a dandelion taproot can grow to. The root in that piece is also felted (a combination of needle and wet) and covered in felters wax, and the mole is needle felted. I aspire to such resilience as the dandelion!

Note: The last image is a photoshopped composite of the root piece with the wool mural, as it was too difficult to find a place to install them together to photograph 

A solid month of full-time stabbing (and a VERY sore arm), and I've completed by far my largest piece ever: this 5'x11' wool "mural" depicts a soil profile found in Massachusetts (it's actually our state soil profile, the Paxton!) The bones (rabbit) are needle felted and covered with felters wax, then given depth with pastel pigment. The worms are felted, stitched, waxed, and pigmented. The ants are beaded and embroidered.

Full materials list: Wool, beeswax, glass beads, freshwater pearl beads, thread, pastel pigment.

This was made to be a companion piece to "My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" (shown in the last few images) which shows the incredible depths a dandelion taproot can grow to. The root in that piece is also felted (a combination of needle and wet) and covered in felters wax, and the mole is needle felted. I aspire to such resilience as the dandelion!

Note: The last image is a photoshopped composite of the root piece with the wool mural, as it was too difficult to find a place to install them together to photograph 

A solid month of full-time stabbing (and a VERY sore arm), and I've completed by far my largest piece ever: this 5'x11' wool "mural" depicts a soil profile found in Massachusetts (it's actually our state soil profile, the Paxton!) The bones (rabbit) are needle felted and covered with felters wax, then given depth with pastel pigment. The worms are felted, stitched, waxed, and pigmented. The ants are beaded and embroidered.

Full materials list: Wool, beeswax, glass beads, freshwater pearl beads, thread, pastel pigment.

This was made to be a companion piece to "My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" (shown in the last few images) which shows the incredible depths a dandelion taproot can grow to. The root in that piece is also felted (a combination of needle and wet) and covered in felters wax, and the mole is needle felted. I aspire to such resilience as the dandelion!

Note: The last image is a photoshopped composite of the root piece with the wool mural, as it was too difficult to find a place to install them together to photograph 

My most recent pair of sculptures are the largest I've ever made - "My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" is 12 feet tall by 16 inches wide, and "On the Horizon" is 11 feet by 5 feet. Together they took a solid 4 months of full-time work (well, the "full-time" left with chronic migraine).

Dandelion taproots can grow over 10 feet deep. They access – and bring to the surface–  nutrients buried at depths that other plants can't reach. They can grow from seeds carried by the wind, or regrow from as little as an inch of taproot left in the ground. I often feel like my life with disability is like trying to thrive under the conditions of a city dandelion, and I aspire to such resilience.

"My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" is made with wool, wax, clay, foam, acrylic paint, wire, paper, sand, tea, recycled aluminum, and resin.

"On the Horizon" is a fiber mural depicting a soil profile found in Massachusetts (it's actually our state soil profile, the Paxton!) The bones (rabbit) are needle felted and covered with felters wax, then given depth with pastel pigment. The worms are felted, stitched, waxed, and pigmented. The ants are beaded and embroidered. It gives context to the depth of the dandelion root.

Full materials list: Wool, beeswax, glass beads, freshwater pearl beads, thread, pastel pigment.

Note: The last 5th image is a photoshopped composite of the root piece with the wool mural, as it was too difficult to find a place to install them together to photograph (have I mentioned they're very big? 😅)

A solid month of full-time stabbing (and a VERY sore arm), and I've completed by far my largest piece ever: this 5'x11' wool "mural" depicts a soil profile found in Massachusetts (it's actually our state soil profile, the Paxton!) The bones (rabbit) are needle felted and covered with felters wax, then given depth with pastel pigment. The worms are felted, stitched, waxed, and pigmented. The ants are beaded and embroidered.

Full materials list: Wool, beeswax, glass beads, freshwater pearl beads, thread, pastel pigment.

This was made to be a companion piece to "My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" (shown in the last few images) which shows the incredible depths a dandelion taproot can grow to. The root in that piece is also felted (a combination of needle and wet) and covered in felters wax, and the mole is needle felted. I aspire to such resilience as the dandelion!

Note: The last image is a photoshopped composite of the root piece with the wool mural, as it was too difficult to find a place to install them together to photograph 

A solid month of full-time stabbing (and a VERY sore arm), and I've completed by far my largest piece ever: this 5'x11' wool "mural" depicts a soil profile found in Massachusetts (it's actually our state soil profile, the Paxton!) The bones (rabbit) are needle felted and covered with felters wax, then given depth with pastel pigment. The worms are felted, stitched, waxed, and pigmented. The ants are beaded and embroidered.

Full materials list: Wool, beeswax, glass beads, freshwater pearl beads, thread, pastel pigment.

This was made to be a companion piece to "My Roots Are Deeper Than They Can Dig" (shown in the last few images) which shows the incredible depths a dandelion taproot can grow to. The root in that piece is also felted (a combination of needle and wet) and covered in felters wax, and the mole is needle felted. I aspire to such resilience as the dandelion!

Note: The last image is a photoshopped composite of the root piece with the wool mural, as it was too difficult to find a place to install them together to photograph