Artist Focus: Natasha Smart

"I am a part-time textile artist and feltmaker who, after many years of home sewing and craftmaking, developed a love of feltmaking following a Foundation Course in Textiles at Morley College in London in 2005/06.  My main passion is for colourful Nuno felting (felting merino wool fleece into fabric), which I transform (often with added embroidery) into artworks, clothing, bags/purses and greetings cards.  I also create felted jewellery and other accessories, and welcome commissions.

 

Since June 2008, I have exhibited work at my Oxted studio during the annual Surrey Artists Open Studios event.  Through this, in late 2008 I was chosen to produce work for sale in Flora Lou in Chobham, which showcases art and craft pieces.  It also led to my running feltmaking workshops from early 2009 (having already gained a Certificate in Training Practice from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)).  Workshops have ranged from large groups of over 20 to day-long and 2-hour taster workshops in groups of 3 in my studio.  I have also branched out into written tutorials, publishing a felt bead and jewellery-making article in ‘Beads and Beyond’ magazine in June 2009.  In February 2010 I exhibited a felted wallhanging at the Greenstede Gallery, East Grinstead, as part of the Afghanistan Inspiration project.  My piece was also one of a smaller group chosen for inclusion in a current European tour, which started at the NEC, Birmingham before moving to France and Germany.

In 2010 my work has focused on expanding the textural and patterned qualities of felt through the addition of wool yarns to the felted surface.  Using simple crocheting and loom-knitting techniques, I create pieces of knitting using mohair wool yarn, and lay these on top of the merino wool fleece prior to felting.  Wet-felting the wool layers together creates a new felted fabric with a delicate mohair pattern, from which I then create the final art pieces.  These patterns are reminiscent of the organic shapes and textures found in the natural world, hence the theme of my work in this exhibition".