Gathered and Felt is a fiber, found object, and video art project guided by materials, land, and labor. Working with Navajo-Churro wool and rusted metal gathered from former ranchland in Northern New Mexico, I create hand-felted & eco-dyed sculptural vessels & panels, assemblages, and video art. Through slow, embodied processes the work speaks to ecological relationships, and the complexities of land use and labor.
The culminating installation will be exhibited at the Vladem Contemporary’s Window Box in Santa Fe, New Mexico, January–April 2027.
Follow the project on Instagram @andreadupree #gatheredandfeltnm
Materials & Process
Navajo-Churro wool and rusted metal gathered from former ranchland in Northern New Mexico bring different kinds of time into the work: the recurring growth of fleece and the gradual corrosion of objects left in the landscape. Among these findings are bundles of fencing wire, remnants of structures used to mark boundaries, contain livestock, and organize relationships with land. Their tangles offer a material counterpoint to wool’s interlocking fibers.
Through eco-dyeing, I color wool with rust from found metal, chamisa, and marigold flowers. These processes bring traces of metal and plants into the fiber itself, extending the relationship between gathered materials and felted forms. Color emerges through time, with variations that guide the work’s development.
Felting transforms loose fibers into connected structures with the help of rainwater, friction, and repeated physical action. Gathering, dyeing, and felting become linked methods of investigating place through touch. I approach materials as collaborators, allowing their textures, irregularities, and capacity for change to influence the emerging vessels, panels, and assemblages.
Form & Surface
Felted panels and rock-like forms translate relationships between land, wool, and weathered metal into contrasts of texture, shape, and scale. The panels extend across the wall like fragments of terrain, while the felted rocks gather into compact, rounded volumes. Their soft surfaces complicate the weight and solidity suggested by their shapes.
Rust and botanical dyes introduce variations in color that suggest staining, erosion, and accumulated time. Across these forms, I explore how a surface can hold traces of contact and change, echoing the ways human activity marks the land.
Research & Material Sources:
Fleece Sources:
- Black Mesa Resistance Network
- Española Valley Fiber Arts Center
- Santa Fe Wools
- Iron & Indigo Farm
- Rio Grande Weaving & Sheep
- La Paysanne Farms
- Synergia Ranch
- Los Luceros Historic Site
Research Sources (update in progress)
