Needle Felt Painting with Francesca Pera

Workshop Description

This is not your "bunny rabbit and flowers in a meadow” needle felting — this workshop will offer an opportunity to explore needle felting using different natural fibers to develop your own feel for the process. Participants will explore felting needles and tools, roving, fibers (natural, and raw) — all using an intuitive approach. Beads or buttons can be add to your piece with embroidery or sashiko thread and simple stitches. Needle felt sculpting will be discussed.

Please note we have a sliding scale for tickets for this event! The break down is as follows:

General Admission #1: Covers the cost of workshop and materials

General Admission #2: Covers cost of workshop, materials, and supports the instructor

General Admission #3: Covers cost of workshop, materials, supports the instructor, and helps keep our workshops more accessible

About Francesca Pera

I’m the daughter of San Francisco Bay Area artists: my mother was a painter, and my father was a sculptor, painter, and maritime worker. Both studied at the California School of Fine Arts (SF Art Institute) in the 1940s. I graduated from San Francisco State University in 1981, having studied with three memorable instructors: Rupert Garcia, Robert Bechtle, and Cherie Raciti. I like color. I like wool. I like dots and patterns. I currently paint in gouache (opaque watercolor) and needle felt, using wool, human hair, and fur. I add Encaustic — mostly unpigmented beeswax and damar resin — to paintings, felt, printed digital images, and paper-covered molding paste. In addition, encaustic dots are added with a heated stylus. Many pieces have a bumpy surface texture. I enjoy listening to audiobooks while working. The repetitive process of painting patterns, making dots, choosing color, or felting, is intuitive for me. Combined with listening, this gives me freedom to explore. It’s impossible for me to approach making art without considering thoughts about our ongoing environmental and social/political crises. I attempt to bring my concerns and ideas to the work, either through process or image.

About SCRAP

We at SCRAP breathe new life into old arts & crafts supplies and reduce waste by diverting over 200 tons of materials heading to landfill every year. To learn more about SCRAP and our mission to make art materials & education more accessible to all, please visit our website at www.scrap-sf.org

Host or Publisher SCRAP