June 26th, 2017

Com·mu·ni·ty*
kəˈmyo͞onədē
noun

**a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals**
 
How would you define your felt-making community? What does the community bring to you as an artist and a person?
 
I’ve been reflecting on these questions since I was privileged to be part of the western Hungary tour organized by Flora Carlile-Kovacs http://www.floranemez.eu/ last month. With ten felt-makers from Canada and the US, we took two wonderful workshops with Hungarian felt-makers Vanda Roberts and Judit Pocs interspersed with taking in the thermal baths, sights and tastes of this beautiful country.
 
For me, the trip felt like an extension of the felt making community that has been established locally through our Felt It Forward meetings, the Art Felt Collaborative, and the Ponderosa Fiber Arts Guild. It was also an extension of Felt-Feutre. The classrooms were a fractal of felt-making communities I’ve been part of.  In short order there was laughter, stories, and teasing, mixed with the ohhs and awhs of people expressing their admiration of each other’s works. This extended to the time outside classrooms with small and large, ever-changing, clutches of women, walking and sharing stories of who they are and what matters to their lives. Now with the Hungary tour, my felt-making community is beginning to feel truly global.
 
For me, my felt-making community brings a sense of belonging to fiber art  practised by a lovely group of people from around the world. Yes, felt-making is about the art form but it also, for me, is about being in community with others who share the love of working with natural fibers and creating something unique that says something about them and about their worlds.
 
So, on reflection, I’d describe my community as artistically rich, soul-satisfying and international. It brings joy to me and possibility to my felting.
 
Diane Goossens
*https://www.google.ca/search?q=definition+of+community&oq=definitio&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j35i39j0l4.3765j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8