What's the Back Story?

Felter's Fling, the world-renowned felter's gathering, has been growing in membership and reputation (hey folks, it's famous, not notorious!), and inquiring minds in the fiber community are dying know the back story.  So here we have it!  This story is straight from Sharon Costello, founder of Felter's Fling. If you aren't familiar with Sharon and her work, find out more about her here. Okay, now read on to get all the goodness! 

It was the year 2000 and felt making was still a pretty obscure art form in the USA. There were a few excellent felt makers who lived in my area, such as Beth Beede and Polly Stirling and I had eagerly studied with them and carried on with experimentation on my own. I was teaching felt throughout the US and meeting more and more people eager to learn the craft. 

Still, I yearned to have an opportunity to connect with others in the international felting community.I knew there were feltmakers in Europe who were taking the craft in exciting new directions and in Central Asia where felt traditions went back for centuries. But there were obstacles…how could I afford the travel to all these places and how could I take the time while raising a family and working full time? Then opportunity knocked.I was selected to take part in a week long forum for professional feltmakers in Skals, Denmark. I also managed to land a grant from the New York Council for the Arts to cover my travel costs.
 
What a week it was! In this little rural Danish town, Lene Neilson (the felt instructor at the “folk school” in Skals) had brought together feltmakers from all over the world. I met fellow felters from all across Europe, Australia, Russia, Central Asia, Korea, and several from the US who were new to me. We learned from each other in workshop settings and in impromptu gatherings throughout the week.

I left Denmark so full of ideas and new techniques and couldn’t wait to share what I had learned!  On the way back home I was so grateful for the experience and I thought about how I could sustain these connections and bring similar opportunities to the growing number of developing felters within the USA.
 
Thus Felters’ Fling was born.
 
At first it was a series of workshops hosted at my local Firehouse over the spring and summer of 2001 and 2002. Participants stayed at local B & B’s and we got together for dinners at our one and only local restaurant.  I brought in Mehmet Girgic (Turkey) to teach traditional rug making, Birgitte Krag Hansen (Denmark) to teach needle felted figures, Ewa Kuniczak (Scotland) to teach sculptural hat making, Alexander Pilin (Russia) to teach his architectural felt garments. We also invited Felter’s closer to home…Bethe Beede (USA), Polly Stirling (USA and now Australia), Leslie Samson (Canada) all taught classes. Soon it was obvious that these classes were not only filling a niche for the existing felt making community, but were greatly expanding it! It was exciting to introduce so many new people to the art of felt making and to see the art form expand and grow.
 
Once I knew that I was filling a need (and that I could afford to bring in international instructors without losing my shirt) it was time to make the leap and turn “Fling” into a true event rather than a series of loosely connected workshops. I tried to design Fling to offer what I thought was missing…a week of felt immersion, where participants would be challenged both artistically and technically. Where they would have an opportunity to share their skills with each other as well as learn from the best felt artists around the globe.

I wanted everyone to stay together, sharing meals and evening free time so that the exchange of ideas could continue beyond the classroom. We found our first venue at a local resort. I live on the northeastern edge of the Catskills and at that time there were still a few of the old family style resorts open for business. Balsam Shade was only about 10 miles from my home. The owners had housed individual felt makers from my earlier classes and were excited about the craft and hosting the event. They were great! Going out of their way to accommodate us (not every resort likes the idea of people throwing wool, soap and water around in their activity rooms or hanging wet towels all over the bushes)! We hosted Fling 2003 and 2005 at Balsam Shade before the owners decided to sell the facility. 
 
Fling 2007, 2009 and now 2011 have all been held at Snow Farm, New England Craft School in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Snow Farm is a beautiful facility, dedicated to teaching crafts. They have been wonderful about turning over the entire facility to us every other year to host Felters’ Fling. Snow Farm is a well equipped craft facility, which opened up opportunities to expand the concept of Fling. Now we can combine felt making with other media such as metal work, wood working, glass, dyeing, sewing, and working directly in nature. The participants have been very enthusiastic about expanding their knowledge of other medium that could be used in conjunction with felt. The results have been fantastic!
 
We have had the honor to host some of the best felt artists in the World. Besides those mentioned earlier, Fling mentors include: Jorie Johnson (Japan), Chad Hagen (USA), Inge Bauer (Germany), Jeanette Appleton (England), Jeanette Sendler (Scotland), Inge Evers (Netherlands), Pat Spark (USA), May Hvistendahl (Norway), Linda Van Alstyne (USA), Renate Maille-Moskowitz (USA), Theresa May O'Brien (USA),  Anna Gunnarsdottir (Iceland), Marjolein Dallinga (Canada), Liz Clay (England), Annemie Koenen (Netherlands), Karoliina Arvilommi and Roderick Welch (Finland), Erma Yost (USA), Chad Hagen (USA), Jean Gauger (USA), Gail Crosman-Moore (USA), Myfanwy Stirling (Australia), Jean Hicks (USA) Lisa Klakulak (USA), Nicole Chazaud Telar (USA). We have also brought in an expert metal worker, couture seamstress, yurt builder and glass workers to partner with our felt mentors.
 
It has been a great honor and privilege to be able to see the art of felt making blossom over the past 11 years. I like to think Felters’ Fling has played an important role in exposing new people to a wonderful medium and in helping those already hooked on felt to expand their skills, their creative boundaries and make lifelong felting friends.

My only regret has been that, as the conference organizer, I have only been able to participate peripherally as my time has been taken up in logistics and management tasks. For this reason, I have made the difficult decision to make 2011 my final Fling. I am confident that others, who value what Fling has meant to them, will continue the tradition and am discussing options with them as I write. In the meantime I am very busy making sure that Fling 2011 will be the best one yet! If enrollment is any indication, then I think I have succeeded. Less than two weeks into the enrollment period and Fling is already 2/3rds full!
 
Felters’ Fling is a bi-annual felt making conference held at Snow Farm School of Craft in Williamsburg, MA. It will be held from August 20 through 28, 2011. For further information go to http://www.blacksheepdesigns.com/fling2011.html or contact Sharon at sharon@blacksheepdesigns.com