At the recent Johnsmas Foy textile artist JEANETTE SENDLER could be seen on the Victoria Pier in the old town centre of Lerwick making a felted sail.

Jeanette, who has worked for many years as a contemporary textile artist and performance artist, has a Masters Degree in Theatre Costume Design and now specialises in feltmaking.

She has been working with the pupils in Mossbank, Brae and Olanfirst primary schools to explore together the creative possibilities of Shetland’s raw materials and fibres for making three dimensional work. An exhibition of their work was on show during the Foy in an exhibition called “The boat – a textile journey”. The name comes from an old Shetland boat, Thelma, which is over 100 years old and was given to the children by Tommy Allan from Scalloway to store individual pieces of work, creating a cargo that can be shared by all the schools.

As part of a collaboration with the Shetland Arts Trust Indigenous Craft Development Project Jeanette held feltmaking classes in the Textile and Design department of the Shetland College in Lerwick. Over a four day course forty local textile artists, teachers, textile design students, dressmakers, embroiderers and enthusiasts learned the skills of feltmaking. Exploring the artistic potential of Shetland wool, Jeanette taught many new structural and three dimensional felting techniques, using colourful Shetland fleece from Sandness Mill often mixed with yarns of metallic fibres for added textural effect.

Artist Wilma Cluness said “The days were so pleasantly inspirational, it made you want to rush home and get bags of raw wool and get going”. Designer Gillian Okill of Aurora Design in Trondra explored new ideas for accessories to Shetland bridalwear, she said “I would never have believed you could get such delicate items from feltmaking – I can see how to use these pieces in designing bridalwear.”
 
Jeanette’s residency finishes at the end of term and although her schedule has been busy she also found time to produce a group of ten sculptural hats, which are her own artistic response to the Shetland environment. They were shown in a charity catwalk in Edinburgh in June and will be shown in an exhibition of new work inspired by her Shetland experience.

She has also given a talk on Feltmaking in Central Asia, worked with the Shetland Embroiderers Guild and worked with a group of textile enthusiasts in Fair Isle.

The Craft Residency is supported by Shetland Islands Council Education Service and Shetland Arts Trust Craft Development Project, and is part of the Scottish Arts Council initiative to give primary school pupils all over Scotland the chance to work with a maker and experience craft.

Find out more about Jeanette’s residency, and her sculptural hats, on her website at www.sendler.co.uk/residencies.htm