Jiwanshakti

I am deeply committed to our earth’s health and a sustainable future between humanity and the rest of the world.

Gallery

About the Art

Wool is functional, natural , biodegradable and an all around miracle fiber. It is healing and comforting. Jiwanshakti makes luxurious functional art that is a part of our sustainable future.

Felting wool is an ancient and primitive art. It happens through heat, water, and pressure. Special felting needles that have micro barbs on them can also be used to bond the fibers together. Her technique is a special combination of wet and needle felting that creates a seamless inlay. This form of the technique and her “The Sacred Felt Collection” has been unique globally since 2006, becoming popular with yogis, meditators, and babies!

Jiwanshakti works at times only by inspiration, and other times for production. “I like it when I have time to explore and try new things. I usually have more than one piece going at a time.” She usually works in batches by stages. How long it takes to finish a piece depends on the size and complexity of the design. There is a dry time between felting rounds, so a small simple piece can be made in a full day if the sun is out or the floor heated, for example, while larger complex pieces take longer.

With her sacred felts, Jiwanshakti creates a bond between you, the earth, and the cosmos.

Bio

Since 2006, Jiwanshakti has been making felted wool mats with inlay designs. She has always loved art and making art. Jiwanshakti is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She studied art history at Colby College in Maine, and studied abroad in Indonesia and Australia, graduating with a BA in cultural anthropology with a minor in environmental studies.

Her first love was ceramics, then she moved into photography, perfecting her prints in the darkroom. Metalsmithing and work in batik also attracted her. As she puts it, “artistry itself is my medium.”

She moved to Colorado after college, working as a mountaineering Instructor for eight years, and explored Taos and its galleries, very intrigued by the architecture and ancient culture of the area.

She expanded her education to become an elementary school teacher, completing an MS in Experiential Education with an emphasis on spirituality and art. After a 14-year career in Ojai, California, she took a break and went to India. It was here she discovered felts and felting.

Jiwanshakti was guided to move to New Mexico in 2013, settling in Arroyo Seco, just northeast of Taos. “I recall that I used to say that I would need to be an artist or something to move to Taos, and then there I was, an active fiber artist, in Taos!”

Her first year here is when she discovered the Espanola Valley Fiber Art Center. She had a short-lived atelier on the Taos plaza, but found the crowds a distraction to her creativity and so retreated to her studio. Her work has been shown at The Whole Earth Festival in California, and the Fall Fiber Fest in Santa Fe. Her work was part of the collective show “Fiber Rocks,” a collaboration with the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project in 2016. The show was exhibited at the Martinez Hacienda in Taos. Deputy Director of the Folk Art Museum Aurelia Gomez, stated, “[Jiwanshakti‘s] felted piece has a strong voice and expression of style.”

She recently purchased property north of Questa and with her sister hatched plans to build a natural structure specifically for felting. Their idea is to increase local sustainability in a community space where neighbors can felt their fleeces and fibers.

“I am simple and purposeful at heart, but with a love of beauty and luxury,” Jiwanshakti says. “I am also deeply committed to our earth’s health and a sustainable future between humanity and the rest of the world.”

Visit her on social mediat at @ArtisanFelts on Instagram

Contact

Jiwanshakti
Artisan Felts
PO Box 795
Arroyo Seco, NM 87514
jshakti10@gmail.com
575-770-8737

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