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Feltingthe art of creating a fabric out of woolViltkunst // Vera Van de Casteele // Felting artist

About Me

I was born in Belgium and I live in Mortsel, near Antwerp.

I first came into contact with felting in 2009, and it was as if I had been struck by lightning: this is it! The puzzle was complete.

In Germany I found a haven for my passion. Being far from home, in a different environment and speaking a different language, made me more self-contained and introspective, which proved to be beneficial to my creativity. German is the language in which my hands and my mind communicate with the wool.

In my mind, patterns, forms and images are vague and hazy. But my hands know exactly what they need to do. Through their dialogue with the wool fibres, a transformation takes place: into a sculpture, a wall-hanging.

My work isn’t about being innovative, or inventing new forms or techniques; it’s about refining and improving my mode of self-expression. The long process of layering, wetting, rolling, shrinking, shaping, etc., requires awareness, focus, and concentration. My hands release and express my thoughts and feelings. There is a little piece of my soul in every work of art they create.

My inspiration comes from music, poetry and nature, but also from life itself: sad events as well as happy ones. Traumas, pain or sorrow can be transformed into beauty. In everything bad, there is a little hidden good; it just takes a while to discover it. Felting helps me to heal and to grow, to find my place on earth.

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Professional highlights

Fell in love2009

It was love at first sight. In 2009 I first came into contact with felting and it sparked my current passion.

Fit in Filz2010 - 2013

Professional felting education at the Wollknoll Filzschule in Oberot, Germany.

Masterclasses2011 - current

Attended several international felting masterclasses; including Gudrun Bartenberger-Geyer, Maria Friese and many others.

Dialogos Textiles2017 - 2018

My first international exhibition. Featured in 3 countries curated by Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser.

The hand has the richest articulation of space.

Eduardo Chillida

Portfolio

  • All
  • Vases & bowls
  • Sculptures
  • Wall art
  • Gehalten und getragen

  • White columns

  • Greytone vases

  • felt rolls

  • Coral sculpture 01

  • Coral sculpture 02

  • Carving composition

  • Calligraphy wall art

  • Red lines

  • Earthtoned columns

  • Orange and grey big vase

Exhibition overview

  • Fri
    03
    May
    2019
    Sun
    30
    Jun
    2019

    EXPO

    Gallery Nanda, Lokeren, Belgium

    invitation

    EXPO at Gallery Nanda. Ben Antrop and Vera Van de Casteele exhibit their work from 04/05/2019 till 02/06/2019.

    BEELDENTUIN at Gallery Nanda till 30/06/2019 - Ben Antrop, Bram Eliaert and Jul Vuylsteke.

    Drongenstraat 50, 9160 Lokeren  -  info@gallerynanda.com  -  +32 474052284

     

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  • Sat
    22
    Sep
    2018
    Sun
    30
    Sep
    2018

    Vlaanderen Vilt

    Pastorie van Munte, Merelbeke, Belgium

    An exhibition that introduces you for the first time to the recent work of our Flemish felt artists.

    Art, fashion, interior, ... be surprised by the inspiring creativity of traditional felting.

    Felt can fascinate infinitely by the high quality material, the visual power and the many technical possibilities.

    Experience it yourself, come enjoy, watch or dream away in the atmospheric space of the presbytery of the rural Munte.

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  • Sun
    06
    May
    2018
    Sun
    17
    Jun
    2018

    Textieldialoog: binnen, buiten en daaraan voorbij

    High Five Art Gallery, Baarle-Nassau, The Netherlands

    For the exhibition curator and textile artist Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser selected work by the best European felt artists.

    The exhibition was opened at the High Five Art Gallery at the beginning of May. This traveling exhibition was first shown at the Museo Historico Cabildo in Montevideo, Uruguay, where it attracted 27,000 visitors. The exhibition is now in Europe for the first time. The exhibition is dedicated to two- and three-dimensional felt art. 'The technique fascinates me,' says curator Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser, who is also textile artist, lecturer and co-founder of the felt school in the German Oberrot. 'As a felt artist, you do not work on a canvas - you create your own canvas.'

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  • Wed
    11
    Oct
    2017
    Wed
    28
    Feb
    2018

    Dialogos Textiles : por dentro, por fuera y mas alla

    Museo Historico Cabildo de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay

    With the curatorship of Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser, this exhibition shows a set of pieces created especially to be exhibited in the Historical Museum of the Cabildo of Montevideo.

    German-speaking European artists, professionals and teachers, were invited to participate in this project. His work and artistic language, is based on the study of textile techniques with felt. The research of felt in itself and in conjunction with materials and procedures alien to it, has led to very personal and innovative artistic trajectories and expressions.

    The works were made with Uruguayan virgin wool, in combination with wool from other continents and climatic zones; many have been worked and manipulated additionally with diverse fibers, silk, fabrics, diary paper, natural materials and metals.

    The three-dimensional works with their complex and sophisticated forms, are an excellent sample of the knowledge of fibers and handling of techniques that these professionals possess. The flat works, of textures and very subtle colors, seem to speak tenderly of personal histories.

    Participating artists:  Gudrun Bartenberger-Geyer, Claudia Fischer, Corinne Keizer, Andrea Noeske-Porada, Christine Rummel, Lyda Rump, Beatriz Schaaf-Giesser, Kornelia Sswat-Mollwitz, Vera Van de Casteele, Margarete Warth, Esther Weber, Gabriele Wehrmeyer

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Contact

+32 496 61 86 43

vera.viltkunst@gmail.com

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