© Allison Currie 2013
I started getting into needle felting recently when I wanted to do sculpture without resorting to the expense of taking up ceramics. I have a history of an interest in how items from the craft world translate into the art world. So of course, I did some Googling to see if other artists had also gone this route. While most of what I found were (adorable) felted toys more in the crafts category, I came across an artist that blew me away and inspires me greatly.
Fiber artist Stephanie Metz creates surreal and highly skilled needle felting sculptures featuring "overbred" domestic animals, organic structures in bones and flesh, and teddy bear anatomy.
Fiber artist Stephanie Metz creates surreal and highly skilled needle felting sculptures featuring "overbred" domestic animals, organic structures in bones and flesh, and teddy bear anatomy.
Her series Overbred Animals is a disconcerting reflection on our distance from animals we eat, our loss of identity as a fellow mammal, and a reflection on the dystopian discomfort that comes from bio-engineering and genetic modification. Animals that are developed as food sources vary between those developing humanized appendages, and those stripped of their species identity. Muscle Heifer is a walking knot of animal flesh that I can't even imagine how it would sustain itself in any normal fashion, and stirs my mind to disturbing images of beasts growing in pools of nutritional fluids or hooked up to tube feeds. Yikes. Meanwhile Milk Cow is a more gentle piece: a dairy cow with four human breasts for udders who retains her identity. She could easily be a fertility fetish; it seems obvious to me her ties to motherhood and the bounty of life-sustaining mother's milk.
Another series, Teddy Bear Natural History, reflects on remainder. Teddy bears, a staple of millions of childhoods, are approached as fossils remaining from a part of one's life that is no more. It is a sweet relic of the companion forgotten. Often her work is mistaken as goth or morbid, but the care and softness of the work belies such an accusation. There is nothing ironic, depressed, or angry about these teddy bears. Each skull is different, breaking away from toys as mass production and moving into the personal space of "my teddy". I find it rather enjoyable to look over her collection and imagine wrappings of fluff and faux fur, and try to think up what kind of teddy it could have been. |
On her process, Metz says, "...I start with found teddy bears and reverse engineer the physical 'evidence' of their biological history in needle-felted wool: a material perfectly suited to representing fuzzy and soft yet firm and structural bones and tissues of stuffed animals. My process and technique add to believability: the actual production of felted wool is difficult to discern through observation, and I borrow heavily from real anatomy. "
In 2012-13, Metz expands on bones with Flesh and Bone which explores the beauty of human remainder and parts. The series consists of sculptures of soft, pliable bones and flesh, undoubtedly warm to the touch as if alive, and sometimes gossamer. Folds of flesh, ribbed stalks, and flowing curves echo forms found in human anatomy and seeks to make the viewer aware of his or her own body. |
While many pieces in her portfolio are smaller works, some of these newer series are MUCH bigger, and I can't wait to see what new work comes out of her mind next. I hope one day her work travels to Houston so I can see it in person, or that I can go to California at some point.
Metz's work can be found at StephanieMetz.com and she can also be followed on Facebook. Her upcoming 2014 shows include: Black Sheep at the National Centre for Art & Design in the UK, Sculptural Felt International at Museum Nagele in The Netherlands, and Soft Muscle at Root Division in San Francisco, CA.
See the video below to watch Metz making one of her Teddy Bear Natural History pieces from start to finish!
Metz's work can be found at StephanieMetz.com and she can also be followed on Facebook. Her upcoming 2014 shows include: Black Sheep at the National Centre for Art & Design in the UK, Sculptural Felt International at Museum Nagele in The Netherlands, and Soft Muscle at Root Division in San Francisco, CA.
See the video below to watch Metz making one of her Teddy Bear Natural History pieces from start to finish!
P.S. I would like to add a little note here about craft vs art. I am not setting one against the other or as better than the other. It's a matter of categories and how I read the pieces. It's also a bit of organizing my mental filing cabinet. I participate in both worlds. There's good and bad examples in each category, and both require skill and dedication to make something truly wonderful.