Amanda Fiebing

Its been quite a summer already. I spent the first part interning for a lovely group of women who put on Urban Craft Uprising here in Seattle. I kept my fingers exercised (blogging) and my legs in good shape (riding my bike around the city handing out promotional materials). And there has been no shortage of fantastic camping and hiking.
Art has taken the back burner while I figure myself out and go with the flow. But I usually take a large side of laziness with my introspection. Hence, my blog silence.
The other day, though, I sat down with a monster of a summer cold and did some needle felting. I’ve been seeing these geometric panel necklaces flying all over the internet. They really feel like something new on the scene to me. I like their retro feel as well. So, I did a little experimenting and found that I liked how they looked in felt in addition to the standard embroidery they come in.

I didn’t plan on it, but I think I will get a chain for at least one of these. If they aren’t the comfiest necklaces to rest upon my decolletage!
Happy Summer guys!

Tags: Art, geometry, necklace, silence, Urban craft Uprising.

Happy Friday! Next week I’ll be in San Francisco enjoying life with my sister and her beautiful family (beautiful dog not shown) I called Margret to ask what I should bring and we came up with this list. Looks like a pretty decent week ahead of me.

I hope to finish up a project before I leave but it seems that I’ve started too much all at once and my focus has been clouded recently. But I am excited to explore San Francisco’s felting options, no doubt I’ll come back a bit refreshed. More soon!

Tags: chocolate, lists, san francisco, Sula.

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I’m taking a mini-holiday up to the San Juans for the weekend to bike and hike and eat. It is a very happy Friday indeed. Besides the Skagit Valley and Iceland, I find it hard to be in a more heavenly place than in the San Juans. Pictures most definitely forthcoming. Have a great weekend, next week I’ll be planning for the Fremont Sunday Market!

A new mushroom to savor for the weekend. I salvaged some of the trimmings from the two white mushrooms to make this smaller taupe topped mushroom.

Tags: felted, guemes island, happy friday, mushroom, nature, needle felted, san juan islands, wet felted.

Early this morning I sat down at my table, still foggy in the eyes even though I’d already been out of the house. I started thinking about the micro flotsam and jetsam that drift across the veneer of your eyeball when you’re staring into space. Sometimes they look like little chains of cells or organisms, floating jelly, that sort of thing. Usually, I find I see more of this crud when I’m outside. This brought on an idea that would continue the various starts I had made for my collaboration. I still have all my painting and collage work out from last week, because honestly, I can be a lazy beast and leave clean up until the last possible moment. Actually, that worked out for me today. The color fields on watercolor paper resembled various types of weather I might stare into and see f & j. A work in progress, I re-moistened them to use water color pencil and they are still drying as I snatched them up for picture time. Rippling, Oops! When dry I will start going in with more drawing and cut paper collage.

Tags: drawing, Joey Bates, watercolor, watercolor pencil, work in progress.

As I mentioned, I collaborated with Seattle artist, Joey Bates on a piece for his show at Some Space Gallery which opens this week and runs through the month of March. By the way, how is it March already?

For this piece I worked with watercolor and cut paper collage. Taking a break from wool fiber was refreshing. Its nice to brush up on my other favorite media periodically. The wonderful weather we’ve been having combined with an opportunity to work with an artist I respect and whose work is phenomenal felt very empowering. Thank you Joey, for this awesome opportunity! Here are some detail/preview photos. I can’t wait to see what his other collaborators produced.

Tags: Art, collaboration, Collage, cut paper, Joey Bates, watercolor.

There a quite a few ways I could title this ‘happy Friday’ post. Happy Anniversary, Henry. Lucky Girl. I’ve had the time of my life. 10. Beware of the shmaltz. Just to put a few out there. Today is a very Happy Friday.
Today marks ten years since the day my boyfriend, my partner Henry asked me to be his girlfriend via AOL instant messenger (I so wish I had saved that conversation) Regardless of times we’ve been apart he’s always been my very best friend. And I feel so lucky to have him.
This morning after getting coffee with him I was walking back to our place and found this karaoke ticket of Henry’s from last night laying on the ground. Do you ever feel like your heart might beat right out of your chest?

The handwriting is a little fuzzy, but it reads “I’ve had the time of my life”. We’ve sung this as a duet before. So, it goes without saying, I had a moment. Plus, who doesn’t love this classic last dance scene?
It is indeed, a very Happy Friday. Happy Anniversary, John Henry.

I apologize for the decidedly personal an un-artsy post. I’ll be back in all seriousness next Monday, have a delightful weekend.

Tags: anniversary, happy friday, Henry, karaoke, love, me.

The past couple weeks included some commissioned work. The project came to me through word of mouth which was really inspiring. Ok so it was one of Henry’s coworkers, 2 degrees is still 2 degrees of separation, right!? This commission was for a grouping of mushrooms to put in a basket as if they were freshly foraged (and cleaned). With the request for two specific kinds, Botelus Edulis and Agaricus, I made this bunch of fungi:

See larger photos here.

***I’m happy to report that even after spending hours making mushrooms from felt their edible form isn’t any more appealing to me.

Tags: agaricu arvensis, Art, botelus edulis, custom, fake food, Felt, handmade, mushrooms, needle felting, soft sculpture, wool.

Over at Booooooom.com there is an awesome contest. It goes along with the soon-to-be-released and highly anticipated Where The Wild Things Are movie. While perusing the many entries I was heavily inspired to create my own. And seeing that the deadline was today there was even more incentive. So, last night, after a fun-filled weekend and gladly having a film crew invade our apartment all day yesterday I came home and pushed through the fatigue to make my fort.
Here are the pictures my entry!

Photography by Henry, 2009

Tags: art direction, Felt, fort, me, project.

Its been an amazing experience each time I’ve hosted a booth at the Fremont Sunday Market. I get the most fun out of talking with market goers, other vendors and most of all people watching. So many great faces and fashion in Seattle. Sometimes I’ll have a camera out, and sometimes Henry Here’s one from two weeks ago, a young patron trying on ALL of the bangles. So great!

Girl in the Market, 2009, Henry Rose

After last weeks disaster, the disaster being that I woke up well past 8:00 and missed an opportunity to get a booth in Fremont, I have been determined to make this Sunday’s booth the best yet. So, come on by!

Tags: Customers, Fremont, Fremont Sunday Market, photography.