PJ Bergin is an American felt and fiber artist and graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City with majors in both apparel design and textiles. An avid felt maker, sewer, and knitter, she designs and produces site-specific Network Tapestry™ and other 3-dimensional contemporary and abstract fiber art objects.
PJ Bergin’s formal introduction to felting dates to 1998 and a workshop led by the renowned felt maker, Chad Alice Hagen at the Split Rock Campus in Duluth, MN. There she learned the basics and theories behind making felt and how to build 3-dimensional pieces using resists. Inlays, creating surface designs on solid colors, were also explored. In 2005, PJ began selling small scale felted works of her own design.
In 2007, PJ traveled to Pittsburgh and the Society for Contemporary Craft, where with Lisa Klakulak she learned about the properties of wool and how to manipulate it to achieve different results from felting. During the workshop, PJ created freeform three-dimensional elements onto a base felt using resist techniques. Following that experience, Lisa Klakulak came to PJ’s Felt In Hand studio and worked privately with her, providing advanced techniques in shaping felt and making inlays from pre-felted pieces.
“My primary body of work today is making felt from wool roving, hand-dyeing it and using this felt for commissioned wall art and sculpture. Felt making is both tactile and visual. With it I design and create original abstract wall art. Each piece is carefully embellished, making it truly one of a kind. The ‘drape’ of the tapestry when hung on a wall, lends maximum advantage to light and shadow, playing off my surface design.
Website
http://www.FeltInHand.com
