Interview with felt artist Meredith Walker-Harding

We've finally tracked down the mysterious master felt forger Meredith Walker-Harding from the underground to tell us a bit about her show 'Felt Forgeries'. 
The show is now extended until the 13th August.

Can you tell us about the concept for your show ‘Felt Forgeries’? What can people expect to see?

Well, the title of my exhibition says it all really - the concept was to rip off famous works of art and re-create them in felt! The idea sprung up as a joke whilst brainstorming what the heck I could do, and stuck. As someone who dreams of making a living by making things, the possibility of this ever becoming a reality grows more remote, naive and desperate with each passing year. So what else was I to do but turn to art forgery to make ends meet?! 

People can expect to see very lumpy copies of masterpieces from Monet, Picasso, Mondrian, Miro, Matisse and Nolan.

Your creations are quite intricate, can you describe your processes?  

After I chose which piece to forge, I simplified the work down to it’s basic lines, colours and composition. Using this, I made a stylised template, cut out each felt piece and then stitched like crazy! The stitching really made each piece come to life - I was able to emulate brush strokes, add details and depth to the flat block colours of the felt.

What were some of the challenges you faced in putting together your pieces for the show?

The biggest challenge was choosing which pieces to copy. Each work needed to be instantly recognisable, but also able to be translated into felt and still look good! I learnt quickly to stay away from people after an attempt to copy ‘The Mona Lisa’ resulted in a weird disfigured pink blob! Finishing off and framing each work was also tricky and involved lots of cardboard and double sided tape! I began to lose confidence in my idea, abilities and work the closer the exhibition opening got, but fortunately for me, my very kind and encouraging husband and friends pulled me out of my artists’ funk and got me to the finish line in one piece!

To View photos of the exhibition opening, click here