Mary Beth Daniels “paints” with fiber that is infused with the spirit of the animals they come from, as well as the land that inspires her nature scenes. Walking into Daniels’ new exhibition, “Echoes of the Vineyard,” curated by Featherstone Center for the Arts at the M.V. Film Center through Nov. 2, is a visceral experience. With their varied, alluring textures, each piece beckons us to come in close to see what’s happening.
“I always did art,” Daniel explains. “I went through my watercolor, acrylic, and oil phases.” When Daniels and her husband moved to the Vineyard in 2012, they became farmers, raising, among other animals, alpacas and sheep, whose fleece became her medium. “About seven years ago, I grew tired of knitting. However, I wanted to do something with the fiber that honored the animals, while also being creative. This is their way of giving back so they earn their keep.” She adds, “I love felting because it’s very tactile. I’m touching the fiber, mixing it, blending the colors, and creating depth and texture.”
Daniels begins by shearing, washing, dyeing, and felting the fiber. She constructs her piece from the back to the front. She uses wet felting to create a dense, unwoven base textile. This involves applying warm water and lathering it with olive oil soap, then agitating the fiber with a rolling pin to interlock the fibers and form the background. After it dries, she starts needle-felting, a dry technique in which she uses a barbed needle to repeatedly punch in different colors of fiber, developing sculpted, three-dimensional images. “At first glance, many viewers assume they are looking at a traditional painting. Only when they come closer do they realize the surface is alive with fiber, each strand layered and felted by hand.”
The manmade structures — lighthouses, cottages, and boats — often have just a little depth, but Daniels will build layers upon layers to depict foliage, blooming flowers, and billowy clouds. Although Daniels may approach a work with an idea of what she will create, she says, “Once those fibers grab together, it can be different from what you initially intended.”
Daniels dyes her wool, alpaca, silk, and other natural fibers to depict scenes in blues and greens, with bright accents of red, yellow, pink, and orange, inspired by Vineyard landscapes and coastlines. “Working from memory, invention, and photographs,” Daniels explains, “nature is my real love. There’s so much beauty here, you can’t help but be inspired by everything that is here.”
Smaller works, around 10 by 10 inches, such as the delightful “Waiting for the Chappy Ferry,” might take Daniels a few days to about a week to complete, while larger pieces, like the striking 20 by 24-inch “Coastline Chronicle” of Menemsha Harbor, could take four to six weeks.
Recently, Daniels has been overlaying the frames of old chapel windows onto her fiber works, such as the stunning “Through a Violet Sky.” She encourages us to look through what would be the panes to see the treasure behind them.
Daniels describes her work as eco-art: “Everything is sustainable, which is why I started using barnwood frames, recycled chapel windows from flea markets. And before I frame a piece, I spray everything with lavender, which is a natural repellent and makes everything smell nice.”
Daniels, a certified spiritual counselor and ordained interfaith minister, says, “The process is a spiritual practice, because you pay attention to what you’re doing. It allows my soul to speak through fiber and art, connecting in a nontraditional way.”
Daniels concludes, “Every fiber tells a story — an unfolding of tradition, place, and spirit. My pieces carry with them the heritage of the farms, the history of the animals, and the essence of the land. They are not only to be seen, but to be experienced: the story of nature felt in fiber and form. I want people to recognize that there are other ways to do art, which I hope inspires people to try new things. But most importantly, I want the work to make people smile or remind them of a memory of someplace they have been.”
Mary Beth Daniels, “Echoes of the Vineyard,” through November 2 at the Feldman Family Artspace at the M.V. Film Center.
