About....
Gesina Laird-Buchanan - Figurative Felt Sculptor
I've been creating art for as far back as I can remember but when I discovered the possibilities of wool, I knew I had found my perfect medium. Wool is natural, organic, and abundant, with lots of it skipping about on little hooves in farmers' fields! The technique I employ is needle-felting, in which one pokes a felting needle into wool, thus causing the minute scales on the wool to grab, and felt together. This is repeated until the wool felts solidly.
Some background on me - I was born in the Netherlands. My parents decided to immigrate to Canada when I was ten, and we settled in Odessa. I studied Art History at Queen's, as well as Art Education, and then I taught. For the last twenty years of my career I taught art at North Hastings High School in Bancroft. In the summer I tended to take courses at the Haliburton School of Arts, such as encaustic painting and cement sculpture. When I was granted a sabbatical, I had the opportunity to study figurative sculpture at the Ontario College of Art. I am currently retired and live in a wonderful limestone house in Napanee.
I tend to draw my inspiration both from history and from nature. Sir John A. MacDonald, our first Prime Minister; Emily Carr and Tom Thomson, pre-eminent Canadian artists; the Mohawk leader Molly Brant; the 'green men' of British folk lore; or the last rose of summer seeking warmth against the limestone of my house.
I've been creating art for as far back as I can remember but when I discovered the possibilities of wool, I knew I had found my perfect medium. Wool is natural, organic, and abundant, with lots of it skipping about on little hooves in farmers' fields! The technique I employ is needle-felting, in which one pokes a felting needle into wool, thus causing the minute scales on the wool to grab, and felt together. This is repeated until the wool felts solidly.
Some background on me - I was born in the Netherlands. My parents decided to immigrate to Canada when I was ten, and we settled in Odessa. I studied Art History at Queen's, as well as Art Education, and then I taught. For the last twenty years of my career I taught art at North Hastings High School in Bancroft. In the summer I tended to take courses at the Haliburton School of Arts, such as encaustic painting and cement sculpture. When I was granted a sabbatical, I had the opportunity to study figurative sculpture at the Ontario College of Art. I am currently retired and live in a wonderful limestone house in Napanee.
I tend to draw my inspiration both from history and from nature. Sir John A. MacDonald, our first Prime Minister; Emily Carr and Tom Thomson, pre-eminent Canadian artists; the Mohawk leader Molly Brant; the 'green men' of British folk lore; or the last rose of summer seeking warmth against the limestone of my house.