Helen Mawdsley is a fibre artist and a wood turner. Helen explained that fibre art has a variety of elements, the first being the material the artist works with. It could be natural or synthetic. Fibre may be taken from plants or animals, for example cotton from cotton seed pods, linen from Flax stems, wool from sheep hair or silk from the spun cocoons of silkworms. Today, synthetic sources could include plastics or acrylic.
The second element is the technique by which the fibres may be used to create fine art. A variety of methods such as quilting, knitting, lace making, braiding, crocheting, among many others may be used. The creativity from source material and method opens the door to limitless possibilities for fibre art creations.
Mawdsley describes herself as a precocious and busy person in her childhood. To keep her occupied, her grandmother and grandmothers’ friend taught her how to knit and embroider as a way to keep her still. She became fascinated with the variety of ways a person could use string or wool. String, for example, could be used in knitting but would appear quite different when used in a different technique. During her university years she was introduced to different fibre arts including crocheting and macramé.
Mawdsley found that she was limited when spinning due to the lack of a variety of spindles used to produce yarn. She wanted to experiment more and push the envelope, thus taking up the second artistic endeavor - wood turning. Thanks to YouTube and her inquisitive nature, she learned to make less round things more round and create beautiful household items in addition to making a range of fibre art tools.
Today, Helen Mawdsley describes herself as being at the intersection of fibre art and wood turning. After making a fibre art tool, Helen uses it, refines the design and the iterative creative process continues. She is constantly exploring new techniques of woodturning to inform her creations of fibre art tools. Over the years, she has explored making fibre art tools to support spinning, weaving, sewing, embroidery and knitting, among others.
Helen’s work as a fibre artist and wood turner has appeared in Spin Off and Piecework magazine published by Long Thread Media, Digits & Thread Magazine and in the book 52 Weeks of Shawls with Laine Publishing Oy in Finland.
A variety of Helen’s work is presented in the Jasper Art Gallery located in the Cultural Centre at 500 Robson Street. She may also be reached through her website www.mawdseleyfibearts.ca, her Instagram account @mawdsleyfibrearts or her email address [email protected]
