Site search
sponsored by
News
ENLARGE
If you go
Who: PJ Bergin
When: today through July 16
Open studio hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays
Public reception: 4-6 p.m. Tuesday and 4-8 p.m. Saturday, July 11
Kids' special: A free “Geode” workshop for ages 5-8 will take place from 2-4 p.m. Thursday; children will use soap and warm water to create solid felt balls with different colors of wool roving, arranged in layers. Once dry, Bergin will cut open these “precious stones,” revealing a unique take-home treasure.
Where: Tin Shop, 117 E. Washington Ave., Breckenridge
When: today through July 16
Open studio hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays
Public reception: 4-6 p.m. Tuesday and 4-8 p.m. Saturday, July 11
Kids' special: A free “Geode” workshop for ages 5-8 will take place from 2-4 p.m. Thursday; children will use soap and warm water to create solid felt balls with different colors of wool roving, arranged in layers. Once dry, Bergin will cut open these “precious stones,” revealing a unique take-home treasure.
Where: Tin Shop, 117 E. Washington Ave., Breckenridge
Networking is very important to fiber artist PJ Bergin — not so much in the traditional sense of meeting people, but rather, in using fabric to create work she calls Network Tapestry.
Bergin will be at the Tin Shop through July 16.
She lives in Salida, Colo., now, but she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City with degrees in apparel design and textiles.
Chad Alice Hagen, a renowned felt maker, introduced Bergin to the art in 1998.
By 2005, her love of making felt, sewing and knitting led her to produce custom tapestries and other three-dimensional fiber artwork. Her contemporary wall hangings, which span up to 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide, brighten and add a sense of comfort to large spaces.
During her time in Breckenridge, Bergin will experiment with integrating metal “armatures” into the fiber of her felted pieces, allowing her to create freestanding pieces. Bergin will use colors, textures and surface design to compile a whole new body of work.
Visitors are free to drop by open studio hours to learn about the felt- making process, its history and how it has become a popular art form.
“Felting is a very traditional art, but here is being used in a highly contemporary way,” said Merrell Bergin, her husband.
PJ Bergin makes her own felt, starting with combed wool roving, hand dyes it, then fashions the felt from warm soapy fibers. Her challenge: figuring out how to control a natural fiber and form it exactly as she envisions. She often selects colors that seem unlikely matches, then pulls them together in an eye-stimulating palette.
“My inspiration often comes from nature and the endless motion and patterns created within its realm,” PJ Bergin said. “Just as a walk in an aspen glen becomes a motion picture of constantly changing color and shadow, I love how the light swirls on the woolen waves of my tapestry. Being a part of the Tin Shop program allows me to expand my love for fiber and felt and share it in new ways with both locals and visitors to Breckenridge.”
Bergin will be at the Tin Shop through July 16.
She lives in Salida, Colo., now, but she graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City with degrees in apparel design and textiles.
Chad Alice Hagen, a renowned felt maker, introduced Bergin to the art in 1998.
By 2005, her love of making felt, sewing and knitting led her to produce custom tapestries and other three-dimensional fiber artwork. Her contemporary wall hangings, which span up to 12 feet tall and 8 feet wide, brighten and add a sense of comfort to large spaces.
During her time in Breckenridge, Bergin will experiment with integrating metal “armatures” into the fiber of her felted pieces, allowing her to create freestanding pieces. Bergin will use colors, textures and surface design to compile a whole new body of work.
Visitors are free to drop by open studio hours to learn about the felt- making process, its history and how it has become a popular art form.
“Felting is a very traditional art, but here is being used in a highly contemporary way,” said Merrell Bergin, her husband.
PJ Bergin makes her own felt, starting with combed wool roving, hand dyes it, then fashions the felt from warm soapy fibers. Her challenge: figuring out how to control a natural fiber and form it exactly as she envisions. She often selects colors that seem unlikely matches, then pulls them together in an eye-stimulating palette.
“My inspiration often comes from nature and the endless motion and patterns created within its realm,” PJ Bergin said. “Just as a walk in an aspen glen becomes a motion picture of constantly changing color and shadow, I love how the light swirls on the woolen waves of my tapestry. Being a part of the Tin Shop program allows me to expand my love for fiber and felt and share it in new ways with both locals and visitors to Breckenridge.”
