As the Felted Flock grew it morphed into a narrative more broad than I anticipated when I embarked on the project. As I shared it online it also began to take on meaning for other people. I’ve never had this experience of artwork being watched and looked at before it is finished.
There is one struggle that stuck out through the project and is still evident at the conclusion of it. Any description of the project falls woefully short of the scope of it. Verbally telling that you are felting a flock of sheep doesn’t cut it in terms of interest value. When the flock is viewed in real life though it astounds, it causes reaction, it invites a further and longer look. In hindsight, five or even twenty five sheep would not have sufficed, this had to be a flock of significant number, with as many extra characters as I could add within a reasonable time frame.
The felted flock was shared in public four times over the two years of creating it. The fifth time happens this week and is the first time for sharing the entire, complete collection. The first public showing was at a local art show and that was when I knew the project had impact beyond what I could tell people about. A similar depth of response was had the next three times it was set up in public.
As the flock grew its storyline and meaning grew with it. As I created it there were so many parallels emerging between the created flock and the real one feeding out on the pasture. But this is where lack of momentum would often strike and I’d be at a loss for ways to describe what I was seeing in the project. And also at a loss for how to keep up with all of it. For the upcoming fifth showing I’ve been reflecting on how to tweak the display to represent the broader story and micro scenes that have emerged. I set up the show tomorrow so I’ll have more on that to share in the next post.