A Grand Day Out - Black Sheep:The Darker Side of Felt, Gallery Oldham

By Stephanie Metz

Just had a lovely day out in Oldham. Saw the exhibition advertised in Craft magazine, never been to Gallery Oldham before but what a great place.  Its kind of like the Atkinson Art Gallery in Southport, with a large public library, a gallery space and a great little tea shop called the Naked Bean.  Delicious home made cake and a really good coffee.  But to the point, Black Sheep is an excellent international exhibition of the darker side of felt making.  The exhibits are both wet felted and needle felted and there are some stunning pieces on show.

The work by American Stephanie Metz is just wonderful, so sensual and organic.  Her teddy skulls, though iconic, in my opinion are not her best pieces in the show.  Her work is needle felted and the quality of the craft is superb.  Her work is rounded, indulgent and evocative of undefined fauna, there are sensuous folds and curves with cheeky bottoms and lush fur.  There are crazy pieces of felt and some very beautiful work, check out Horst Couture from the USA, with work to touch and information about felt making over the ages and in the present.  I was amazed at some of the fleece you can use to felt with, forget sheep wool, there was possum, banana fibre and even milk protein fibre - which was completely new to me.  The car parking is easy and very reasonable, my only qualm was Oldham is not so easy to navigate around, thank goodness David was driving and the SatNav took us straight there, although there is good signage.  If you fancy a good cup of coffee and an hour of wonderful felt work pop on down to Gallery Oldham for a very enjoyable afternoon.  It is a touring exhibition from The National Centre for Craft and Design and will be in Oldham until May 2015.