“Because I Felt Like It” show features art ‘painted’ with wool by fibre artist Pam Carnochan

From a distance, Pam Carnochan’s works look like beautifully textured paintings. And they are, just not with the material you’d expect.

A fibre artist, Carnochan ‘paints’ with wool. And if that doesn’t sound challenging enough, she follows a ‘farm-to-frame’ process: all of the wool comes from her own sheep which she shears herself. Only after she has prepared the raw wool—including combing it to remove the bits of debris that inevitably get trapped in the curly coats of sheep, and dyeing it a variety of vibrant colours—can she get to work.

It’s spring so Carnochan has just sheared ‘the girls’—Rosie and Lindsey—in preparation for creating some new works. She hopes to add two or three lambs to her flock this year, and was recently given “a very wise and alert horse” that she thinks will be a good protector for all of them. (On a Muskoka farm, coyotes and wolves are a definite threat.)

To kick off the coming art season with its studio tours and fairs—Carhochan participates in both the Artists of the Limberlost Summer Studio Tour and the Muskoka Autumn Studio Tour, as well as at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto—she has installed a new show, Because I Felt Like It, at the Partners Hall Gallery at the Algonquin Theatre.

There you’ll find vibrant and sometimes surprising landscapes—like “Island Girl” which re-imagines the rocks of Georgian Bay as a woman stretched out in the water—and playful animals like the life-size red squirrel in “Oh Nuts” that looks as though it might at any moment leap from its perch to grab the acorns nestled on a branch above.

“Island Girl”, 36×32 watercolour with wool by Pam Carnochan

“Oh Nuts”, 44×40 watercolour with wool and ironwork by Pam Carnochan and Deb Harkness

Some of the pieces are in open frames while others hang from ironwork rods crafted by blacksmith Deb Harkness. One, “Sweet Collaboration” even has a sap bucket hanging from the tree, ever ready for maple season.

“Sweet Collaboration”, 39×37 watercolour with wool and ironwork by Pam Carnochan and Deb Harkness

“Hiding Place”, 33×41 watercolour with wool by Pam Carnochan

Carnochan says that it’s both thrilling and humbling to see her work collected for this show. “It actually really threw me for a bit of a loop,” she says. “It feels pretty special. This is a good snapshot of my journey to here. There are some older pieces; some of them I even reworked so I could bring them here.”

She adds that while she couldn’t possibly choose a favourite piece, “I have a few that are very near and dear to my heart because every one of them has challenged me in a way that was unique to me and I had to force myself to rethink things and redo things. All of them have been a nice journey into a better artist.”

“Limberlost”, 28×23 watercolour with wool by Pam Carnochan

“Checking Out Her Tail Feathers”, 26×31 watercolour with wool by Pam Carnochan

Carnochan says she is grateful to everyone who has supported her and her work. “I am just thrilled that Huntsville has allowed me to become the artist I’ve always wanted to be. Huntsville has always supported my dream by acknowledging me in art shows and purchasing my art. It’s very gratifying and very humbling as a person that is self-taught. This has just been my dream my whole life.”

Related story: Artist Pam Carnochan ‘paints’ in a unique medium: wool

“Muskoka Monarch”, 29×25 watercolour with wool by Pam Carnochan

If you want to learn how to do this art form yourself, Carnochan is holding a sampler workshop on May 22 at More Than Just Art and a Farm-to-Frame intensive from May 24-26 at the studio at the Morgan House Bed and Breakfast.

See her work at the Partners Hall Gallery until May 31, anytime Town Hall is open (private events excepted).

For more information, visit morganhousewoolworks.ca.

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