Erma Martin Yost: Felted Fields

TSGNY: What fiber techniques or materials do you employ in your artwork?

Erma Martin Yost: I create handmade felt from roving and/or wool batting and use the resulting mat as my canvas. I start by making elements that interest me. Only later do I put them together and begin composing, taking my direction from ideas that evolve as I work.

“Spring Song,” 2011, 16” x 21”

TSGNY: Can you talk a bit about that process of evolution?

EMY: When felting I compose colorful shapes with the dyed batting and roving. When the felt is thoroughly dried, I pin the piece up on a board and wait for it to “speak” to me. Gradually I develop the surface, sometimes combining pieces of felt. Since this is a slow process, I usually have three or four pieces pinned up at a time and work on them simultaneously. I find that if I have a fixed idea when I start, the work ends up self-conscious.

“River Shadows,” 2012, 31” x 17”

TSGNY: You refer to felt as your “canvas” – were you originally a painter?

EMY: My graduate degree was in painting. While exploring many types of surface design and transfer processes, my work evolved into mixed media art quilt constructions. The tactile quality of the materials and surface texture has always been an important component to me. Felt making satisfies all of these interests.

"Autumn Field," 2012, 21” x 28”

TSGNY: How did felt become your canvas?

EMY: After retiring from teaching art at The Spence School, I did a lot of subbing there. One day I subbed in a class of 6th graders that was making felt scarves. I was completely seduced. I had never encountered the process before, so the students ended up teaching me. I went home and researched felt making on the Internet, ordered some supplies, and did a great deal of experimentation. The rest is history.

“Pond Shadows,” 2012, 22” x 26”

TSGNY: Does making or working with felt pose any particular challenges?

EMY: The supplies and process for felt making are deceptively simple. However, to get a durable fiber structure takes a lot of physical effort. Injuries to shoulders and wrists are common, which I found out the hard way.

"Evening Field," 2011, 24" x 24"


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TSGNY: If you’re willing to risk injury, working with felt must offer you something you couldn’t find in other media.

EMY: I find it less daunting to begin composing on the colorful surface that I intuitively create in felt, than facing a blank white canvas. And while I thoroughly enjoyed all the surface design techniques and processes I explored over the years, I had begun to get concerned about some of the toxicity and fumes I was being exposed to.  With felt making I am basically exposed to wool, soap and hot water. I like the simplicity of these few requirements. When I begin to embellish the felted surface with thread, my fascination with “mark making” is more open-ended and easier to explore.

"Shadowed Field," 2012, 22” x 27”

TSGNY: “Mark making” is very much a part of the current art conversation. What form does it take for you?

EMY:  I create mark making by hand-stitching with embroidery floss to create dashes of color. I start to fill up a space and stop when there is “enough.” To create lines or outlines, I love to use hand-dyed #3 pearl cotton thread and “couch” it. The twisted thread has a bit of a life of its own and it tells me where it wants to go.

"Shadowed Field," 2012, detail

TSGNY: Has your intent changed since you discovered felt?

EMY: My work, regardless of the medium, has always had a reference to nature. Even though I’ve lived in the city for 36 years, only two pieces ever had urban themes: the events of 9/11.

"Winter Sunset," 2011, 22” x 16”

EMY: There are several folk textiles I keep visible in my studio that have informed my work. One is a hand-embroidered pillow sham from India, found at a flea market. The other is a Sujuni wall hanging from the village of Bhusara, Bihar, India, commissioned by Dorothy Caldwell at a women’s domestic textiles cooperative. The background is black handwoven cotton; a story of village life is portrayed in white thread, entirely through dashes and lines that fill one hundred percent of the surface. These Indian textiles tell local village stories, which is not my goal. But I am impressed by how the density and direction of the stitch marks create the design.

TSGNY: Finally, are there any living artists who inspire you who you feel we should know about but may not have heard of?

EMY: I admire many well-known textile artists whose work involves “mark making.”  Two resources about the textiles of India I often refer to are “The Narrative Thread,” from an exhibit at the Asia Society in 1998 and “Stitching Women’s Lives” from the Museum for Textiles exhibit in 1999.

“Shifting Shadows,” 2012, 37” x 22”

TSGNY: Thank you, Erma. You can see more of Erma’s work on her website and her solo exhibit at the Noho Gallery, Felted Fields, February 5-March 2, 2013.

6 thoughts on “Erma Martin Yost: Felted Fields

  1. Your work is beautiful! I’ve never seen this technique and it is really creative and lovely. I’m a friend of Erma’s- (big Erma!)

  2. Erma – These pieces are spectacular. Each new group of works you offer us is so exciting. I love these countryside images, and I still love your much older quilted pieces from years ago. I don’t mean to gush. but…

  3. These are beautiful pieces of art! Can’t wait to see your show at Noho Gallery in February.

  4. Beautiful work and I especially enjoyed seeing the stitiched/embroidered work you have added to several artpieces. I know it is a wonderful show, Erma..
    BJ