Jane Whelen Banks
ABOUT Jane
When I first saw the swirling, textured wool fibers drawn up against puckering silks, the strings and bobbles, and the endless forms and mysterious shapes that shrinking wool could take, I knew I was in love with felting. For me, it is as magical now as it was 20 years ago, when I first discovered felt making at a community market on Hornby Island.
Immediately inspired, I have taken multiple workshops from amazing fiber artists and have watched countless DIY You Tube videos on the craft. I love to forage, recycle and re-create. Scouring yard sales, Craig’s List, and second-hand stores for old silk scarves, sarees and wool scraps, is for me, like panning for gold. I scrounge through junk sites and abandoned buildings for corroded metal objects like chains, cans, sprockets and nails which can be used on vinegar-soaked silk to create rich, radiant rust prints.
I am attracted to the irregular, imperfect, unusual and unexpected which I love to make into functional pieces and useable art.
STUDIO #26
Kitsilano Neighbourhood House
2305 W 7th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V6K 1Y4
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Anna’s baby
100% Merino wool, hand dyed silk, cotton
Hestia Shawl
100% merino wool, rust printed silk, indigo dyed silk
Baby Blanket
Strange new world, wensleydale wool, silk, cotton