Grey Matter, felted wool, 2019,Photo credit: Philippe Doucet
MARY E. BLACK GALLERY
1061 Marginal Rd, Halifax,
Nova Scotia, B3H 4P7, Canada
Nov 7, 2019 – Jan 19, 2020
Marjolein Dallinga was born in the Netherlands where she studied Fine Arts. She moved to Quebec, Canada, in 1989 to pursue her art career through making art books and jewelry..
She discovered the craft of felting after her immigration.
« I came to feel that felting was the medium most suitable for my artistic expression. Coming from a fine arts background I find the tension between the world of art and the world of craft very interesting . For me, felting is not primarily about the techniques and trick of the craft but a medium of artistic expression, with the growing interest in fibre arts, I see this expression as a challenge to continue my moving from the traditional craft of felting to finding innovative ways to create. »
The world-renowned “CIRQUE DU SOLEIL” became interested in Marjolein’s work, and for years she has experimented with felt for their costume design while also creating final products for their shows. Besides costume design she creates large sculptures with wool which have been exposed in museums and galleries worldwide. Marjolein has her own company, Bloomfelt.com, and works from her studio with sewing and dyeing rooms. She has taught felting workshops for fifteen years worldwide.
Majolein Dallinga felting Photo credit: Agnes Morganti
Artist statement :
« The life of this world is wind
Windblown we come, and windblown we go away.
All that we look on is windfall.
All we remember is wind. »
C. Wright
For more than twenty years, wool has been my medium and companion. If the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan stated, then what is the revelation of this material?
Felting is not something I do but a place I want to go, a language of the imagination, a challenging craft to consume my anxious energy.
Are we artists not all driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide?
This collection of works, « Move me/Touchez-moi », is a way to shatter me, to break my comfort zone, the protection which prevents the asking of questions. Sculptures give a greater sense of reality. That may seem a ridiculous word to use, but they have a greater substance, You can grab a sculpture. You can’t grab a painting. Viewers always want to touch the work.
The aliveness of this medium makes it feel close to our skin. I don’t really know why I make something, but I do know I want to make it. In art, I am free: everything is possible.
Grey Matter, felted wool, 2019, Photo credit: Marjolein Dallinga
Here I can be open, thin skinned, easily yielding, very close to delight.
And the message? What is the message of all these soft sculptural pieces, these creations which look like mysterious hides or creatures from the sea or maybe enchanted forests?
Some remind us of body parts, strange organisms that look like animals but at the same time like plants or mushrooms or maybe corals.
Most of the felted pieces are expressions of the struggle with the body – they are about death and sex and the erotic life.
Sometimes they literally express sensations or emotions.
I only see how the pieces relate to each other afterwards. The work unfolds: each piece has a kind of connection to each other. Inspiration comes to me, through the cracks. I have to be open and take the risk. Does this art, do these felted pieces, become a way to live, a way to survive? The closeness of felt, almost a second skin, a friendship without a friend.
Mature Tongue, Marjolein Dallinga, felted wool, 2016 Photo credit: Philippe Doucet & Front Cover Image: Pink Matter, felted wool and silk, 2019, Photo credit: Philippe Doucet
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