Touch Wool
Book classes and events from A Wool Connection
Get to know A Wool Connection
Until five years ago I was a singer and performer of an electro duet. During lockdowns, in breach of concerts and stranded on the island of Lesvos, which has 30000 sheep and an extinct wool-branch, I focused on the valorization of sheep wool: from the conceptual discourse to its thermo-regulative properties. Since 2020, I am hands-on researching its transformation as a human anchorage in the world I envision. The fight against climate change starts at the materials we use. In order to revive the branch on the Island of Lesvos, in order to empower citizen to respond to their basic needs of thermoregulation, I contaminate, I pass on the craft and energize the wool context. I split my time between Lesvos and Berlin, revalorizing local wool of endangered species, such as the Skudden sheep on Tempelhofer Feld or inner city farms and the endangered Kalaritiko, a Greek breed of transhumance sheep, famous for their wool.
The workshops offer the opportunity to touch wool, which has been the material of care and comfort for millenaries all over the globe. The sense connects us in time and space. We learn to mingle the fibers and condense them into a non-woven fabric with the accessible wet-felting technique of the nomads. We use water and soap and rub the wool with increasing intensity to create an ever stiffer texture of timeless feel: felt.
As we do, we discuss historical, biological, sociological aspects, the place of materials in our world, the satisfaction of making, questions of esthetics, expectations, the boundaries of art and crafts and we often just focus on the process in a meditative moment. Our hands seem to know, we follow their wisdom, produce an object that makes sense and feel satisfied. And satisfaction can act as resistance.
Each workshop situation is unique and intimate. They take place in Rhinowerst.10, close to Schönhauser Allee at Alexine Good's Atelier-Gallery A mid-size room equipped with a large table, around which we all fit, and perfect lighting. The brickwork on the walls and the kitchen at the back set the homey atmosphere. Alexine is not only an excellent artist and teacher, she also has British humor and Spanish hospitality.
The wet-felting workshops are a great group activity. We may choose to produce a common work, which is fun because we will discuss and choose together, then, applying many hands on a piece accelerates the process in revealing way: aha experience guaranteed. Or else, we may create variations on a theme and illustrate the charm of diversity The dynamics set by the material mirror the ties we have to each other, ever transforming and surprising.
