Juliane Gorman 84 TX
Felt Happiness
How does your current creative practice tie into your time spent at RISD?
When I attended RISD, we studied many interesting textile techniques, but we didn’t do feltmaking. However, as students, we were fortunate to have access to a treasure room filled with fantastic wool fibers. Serendipitously, one Saturday night, a friend and I made ‘freestyle felt.’ Knowing the properties of wool from our Fibers and Dyeing class, we knew that agitation and temperature cause wool to shrink. So, we experimented by dancing and throwing snow upon on it. As if trying to tell me something, I felted a hat which looked like a rooster.
After that all that fun, I promptly forgot about feltmaking. For my degree project at RISD, I made over-sized, sculptural mask-headdresses out of found-objects, cardboard, wire, and hand-painted silk fabric. No felt and not exactly practical.
Following graduation, I spent much time trying to figure out ‘what I wanted to do with my life.’ Eventually, I received my MLIS (Masters in Library Science) and worked for a database company and at public libraries. Then, life intervened and figuring out what I wanted to do became less important. I merely did what needed doing because now I was the mom of a couple of tiny people.
Finally, a few years shy of my 50th birthday, I rediscovered feltmaking. After purchasing a felted bracelet at a craft fair, I thought, “I need to learn how to do this!” So, I went to the library and ‘Fabulous Felt Hats,’ a book by Chad Alice Hagen, jumped into my arms.
As they say, ‘the rest is history.’ I started making hats and now cannot stop. As I create hats, each one inspires me to make the next one. Hence, the creative thinking process that I learned at RISD, continues. Best of all, I now know what I want to do when I grow up!
What are some of the most important practices for your creative process?
There are three aspects that I love about making felted hats: the transformative power, the practicality (it’s warm!), and the not-quite-necessary element of whimsy.
Unlike other creative endeavors, millinery requires a human to complete it. A hat without a wearer is incomplete. Moreover, when a person tries on a hat, it comes alive. It grows and becomes more magnificent as headwear and face interact. Additionally, a hat surprisingly appears to change when worn by a different person. This transformation of both what I make, and the wearer is one of the most rewarding aspects of my practice.
The second rewarding aspect of making work from felted wool is that my hats are functional. As you know, wool fibers insulate and therefore my hats are warm. Additionally, my pieces are easy to care for – just hand wash in cold water. After all, soap and water are part of my feltmaking ‘tools.’
Lastly, I love creating a wearable that has a bit of whimsy to it because it brings a smile to the wearer’s life.
Tell us about some of your main sources of inspiration.
Surprisingly, anything can inspire a hat. Inspiration can be as obvious as needing to make more of a popular hat style, such as cloches, which have sold well. Other times, hat inspiration comes from the usual suspects – nature, such as oak leaves or watermelon rinds.
Or inspiration can come from more unusual sources. For example, when I moved to Pittsburgh six years ago, I was amazed by how many bridges the city has – 446! Additionally, it amused me to see the preponderance of black and gold decorating the town to ‘honor’ the local sports teams. Most of all, custom orders bring unexpected sources of inspiration. One of my favorite custom orders was a request for a beret inspired by Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss.”
Is there a work/body of work that you are particularly excited about sharing with us at RISD Craft this year?
Typically, I work by making a small series of hats based around a theme. As I get bored quickly, the number in a series is quite limited – usually, seven at the max. Hence, what I will be bringing to RISD Craft is slightly an unknown!
Nonetheless, within my work, there are two ‘lines.’ First, there are my more ‘conservative-looking’, everyday-chic hats that you could wear to shovel the driveway or go to the shops. Secondly, there are my more extravagant, fantasy hats that you could wear to parties or festivals. Of course, you could wear a fantasy hat to shovel as they are also cozy! And who is to say what can and cannot be worn?
As RISD is a fantastic art school that welcomes the unusual, I will aim to create extra-exciting, one-of-a-kind hats.
Any recent press, exhibitions, achievements or awards you’d like to share with us?
The majority of what I make is destined to be shared and sold on my website and at craft fairs. However, this year, I managed to submit two over-the-top, Art Hats to two international hat events. In the Spring, my Vegas Creamsicle Headdress, an over-sized peach-colored floral hat, was part of an exhibition at London Hat Week. In July, my ‘Long and Winding Road’ wizard hat was part of the annual BeanieFestival in Alice Springs, Australia.