Katherine McClelland
A little bit about me...
I was born in Maine in September of 1977 but grew up in a small mill town in Pennsylvania. From early on, I knew art was my thing. So it was no surprise to anyone when I graduated High School, that I headed off to Maryland Institute, College of Art. Four years in Baltimore taught me that I'm not really a city girl, but it connected me with the love of my life, my husband, Ryan. We live in
Western Massachusetts, where I am a mom to two lovely girls. I spent 14 years teaching Special Education and Literacy, eventually earning my Masters of Education at UMASS. I have taught art to students of all ages and am currently a High School Art Teacher in CT.
When I create I consider three main areas; process, content, and aesthetics. I love digging into various methods and pushing the materials to create something new. I create felted images from wool using both needle and wet felting. My work is primarily figurative. I love to see all the amazing shapes and lines that are created by an endless variety of poses as we go about our daily lives. It’s fascinating to explore how emotion is conveyed not just through expressions but through body language. There is something uniquely engaging about creating things using a process that has existed for thousands of years. I have found it is the perfect mix of painterly expression and physical process that satisfies me in a way that other mediums have not. Creating textile art with a social commentary feels appropriate and in line with a long tradition of women makers who used this discipline to have a voice in a world that would prefer their silence
Here is a video of my felting process if you're interested in how I create my fiber pieces.
Fiber Artist
Exhibited Work
3/3-4/16/2023 “Katie & Russell” Felt: Fiber Transformed” Gilford Art Center, Guilford CT
2/7-3/7/2023 “Pool of Light” Strike a Pose, The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Yarmouth MA
2/2-3/30/2023 “Stacey Abrams” Labor of Life: Textiles & Fibers, Arlington Center for the Arts, Arlington MA
2/4-2/25/2023. “Gaia” 2nd Annual Fiber Show, Arts Center East, Vernon CT
7/2022 “Complicated History” Hosmer Gallery, Northampton MA
5/28-8/14, 2022 “Stacey Abrams” Excellence in Fiber, Scheinfurth Art Center, Auburn NY
5/2022 Multiple Works, Solo show, Wedge Works Art & Home, Easthampton MA
3/2021 Multiple Works, Solo show, Wedge Works Art & Home, Easthampton MA
1/2020 Multiple Works, Small Group Show, Jones Library
1/12-4/19/ 2020 “Speak Truth” Explorations in Felt, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton NJ
8/2019 Multiple Works, Small group show, Hosmer Gallery, Forbes Library Northampton MA
Summer 2019 “Thank You” Felt: Fiber Transformed, Fiber Art Now
3/8-5/8/2019 “Thank You” Twisting Fibers: An Art for All Reasons, Blackstone Valley Tourism Council Gallery and
adjacent Gallery 175
2-3/2019 “Beech Trees” Trees, Trees, Trees: Celebrating the Magnificence of Tees, LOCAL Gallery Easthampton MA
1/7-2/22/2019 Multiple Works, Solo Show, West Springfield Library, West Springfield MA
10/5-10/28/2018 “Not So Zen” Fiber II, Liberty Town Arts Workshop, Fredricksburg VA
11/8-11/18/2018 “Lilith & Eve” Homespun: 100 Years of Textile Arts in Holyoke, Wistariahurst Museum, Holyoke MA
10/13-10/30/2018 “I’m Fine” Going Within: Self Portrait as Medicine, MAP Gallery, Easthampton MA
9/8-30/2018 Multiple Works, Solo show, Wedge Works Art & Home, Easthampton MA
4/2018 “Maya” & “Nola” All Things Considered Textile Show, Gallery 53, Meriden CT
10/2017 “I’m Fine” Subversive Domestic Juried Show, Shenandoah Valley Arts Center, Waynesboro VA
7/11/2017-10/6/2018 “Speak Truth” Threads of Resistance, Traveling Exhibit
Spring 2017 “Ryan’s Beard” Fiber Art Now Emerging Artist Showcase
6/2-7/21/2017 “Maya” Waterloo Arts Juried Exhibition, Cleveland OH
2016-2017 “Golden Slumber” Ouvert Gallery, Easton MD