Susan Feller
Jane S. Choice, 2022
wool and other fabrics, threads, yarns, metal hanger to display 24 x 18
Fourth in series, documenting women's issues. The vertical format depicts a headstone, inscription tells the story of US Supreme Court decisions Roe v Wade to Dobbs v Jackson with message "she will return". Hand hooking is a slow process, allowing the maker time to reflect on the subject. Craft has spoken for decades.
Susan Feller
2020 Journal January -June, 2020
wool and other fabrics, threads, yarns, 54 x 24
2020 began with plans to celebrate the 19th Amendment, travel teaching, exhibit and evolved into introspective time alone with radio as outside world connections. Each month is documented with a quote or slogan; values indicating hope or despair; and Covid molecules flowing through. Pulling each loop of fabric and creating the images helped me process the overwhelming confusion.
Susan Feller
2020 Journal July – December, 2021
wool and other fabrics, threads, yarns, 54 x 24
The last six months of 2020 were filled with loss, competition, learning, and what we thought was final results on December 14. This panel completes my documentation of life as an artist isolated in the mountains of West Virginia observing history. Covid symbol floats through each month, milestones of deaths recorded, new skills on Zoom and slogans add color to the bleak palette. I did not continue journaling of 2021 yet. Perhaps one day.
Susan Feller
Miss Mountaintop Removal, 2023
acrylic yarn, wool and cotton fabric, stainless steel, Starbucks labeling 20 x 16
In response to poem 'Boom, Boom" by Chrystal Good and photography by Paul Corbit Brown both included in video published in Sept 2022 WestVirginiaVille the design was first created digitally. Finally the fiber techniques and mixed media evolved giving tactile dimension to the daily destruction of Appalachia.
Susan Feller
Mountaintop Removal Jewel, 2018
cotton and wool fabric, novelty yarns, silver wire, beads, poly filling 16 x 12
Over 500 mountain tops in West Virginia alone have been blasted off to extricate the minimal coal left for export and profit by out-of-state corporations. The waterways are covered or destroyed. Communities live under the silica laden clouds, have poisoned water and children daily attending schools. My work brings awareness of the human impact on nature and asks viewers to consider their energy use and sources.
Susan Feller
Mountaintop Removal Puzzle, 2021
wool and sari silk fabric, yarns, upholstery fabric, threads 20 x 10
Using a satellite image as guide the mountaintop removal sites in Raleigh County, West Virginia are depicted as scars among the rugged greenery the mountains of Appalachia are known for. The title refers to the organic shape on top of frame which is a pin. It could be taken off, moved around to cover the lower left, or worn perhaps starting a conversation about human impact on nature. Do you know where your energy comes from?
Susan Feller
Mountains of Energy, 2019
plastic straws, paint, cotton threads embroidered, yarns and fabric hooked and applique' 11 x 19
Human impact on natural resources destroys habitat, and ecology but the gas lines had to go in. Then the permits were denied and the scars remain-on nature and communities.
Susan Feller
Fall Along the New River in West Virginia, 2021
wool, sari silk fabric and cotton thread 10 x 20
The New River is incorporated into our National Park Systems, it's course is westerly from the peaks of the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina joining the Gauley and Kanawha to flow into the Ohio. Throughout the region mountaintops are blasted off to extract the last coal. These barren spots are the organic black areas.
Susan Feller
Winter Along the New River in West Virginia, 2020
cotton threads embroidered; wool fabric, yarns hooked through linen 10 x 20
The New River flows west eventually into the Ohio carving deep gorges out of the Appalachian Mountains. Coal is excavated now by blasting the tops off those mountains. Tourism brings in more money than the corporations are exporting.
Susan Feller
Our Mountains Past, Present, Future?, 2022
wool and silk fabric 20 x 20
From Old-Growth Forests and crystal clean waters to corporate extraction of the natural resources in Appalachia the land has changed. Mountain tops are blasted off for the last coal, spreading carcinogens in the air, heavy metals into the waters and erosion from clear cut logging. Will we be able to halt this destruction? The tourism economy flourishes but for how long?
