Oh, So Cute!

Using a pre-felt base and needle felting techniques combined with wool fiber, students will create a picture of their pet w/ instructor Irene Heckel-Volpe!

Students must email photo of pet to instructor so appropriate colors can be supplied. Photo should be 8″ x 10″.

Register now online or call 828 859 8323!

BIO:

Irene has creating collectible soft sculpture since 1986. Staring with collectible mohair teddy bears, she has been designing and creating the teddies for over 30 years. They have been featured in several US magazines, including Teddy Bear and Friends and Teddy Bear Review and in several overseas publications, with an emphasis on some unique innovations and mixing of media.

During the time that she was creating teddy bears, in 2002 Irene discovered the art of needle felting. The use of wool fibers to sculpt became part of the teddy bears, but as time went on it became apparent that this new art form was going to become a very large part of Irene’s creative process and she began to create sculptures that were beyond the teddy bears. She developed techniques that pushed her to continue designing and developing. Most of her work makes use of mixing her media. Needle felting itself was new to most people, so Irene was called on to demonstrate and educate at many shows. She has also developed needle felting classes which teach the how to… but also using imagination and technique to create everything from 3D sculpture, to embellishment, and also using fiber to create paintings. She has recently been commissioned many times to create portraits of people’s fur babies.

Her work has been exhibited and awarded both locally, nationally and internationally. Irene has taught classes all over the US including the 2017 Fiber Forum at Arrowmont in Gatlinburg, where she will be teaching again at Fiber Forum 2019.

Irene is originally from Long Island, NY and relocated to the Asheville area in 2014, with her husband and her “fur-family”.