What is Fiber Art and Felting?
What is Fiber art?
What is Fiber art?
What is Fiber art?
What Is Fiber Art?
Fiber art is a form of fine art that uses natural or synthetic fibers, textiles, and other materials to create visually expressive works. Unlike traditional crafts that prioritize function, fiber art emphasizes aesthetic value, creative expression, and the artist’s hand in the making process.
Materials: Artists work with a wide range of fibers, including cotton, linen, wool, silk, rayon, polyester, nylon, and acrylic.
Techniques: Common methods include weaving, knitting, crocheting, felting, embroidery, and macramé—each contributing unique texture and character to the finished piece.
Significance: Fiber art celebrates both the material and the labor involved, often elevating historically domestic or utilitarian techniques to the realm of fine art.
Expression: Many fiber artworks carry deeper meaning—evoking emotion, cultural narratives, or personal stories through their form and texture.
Coined in the 1950s by art historians and curators, the term “fiber art” has grown in prominence, with the medium gaining increasing recognition from galleries, museums, and collectors worldwide.
What is Felting?
What is Fiber art?
What is Fiber art?
What Is Wet Felting?
Wet felting is a traditional fiber art technique that transforms loose wool and other natural fibers into a solid fabric using water, soap, and agitation. By applying pressure and friction—typically with your hands or specialized tools—the fibers interlock and form a durable, one-of-a-kind textile. Artists often incorporate wool, silk, alpaca, bamboo, and other high-quality natural fibers to create richly textured pieces. Finished items such as scarves or wearables should be cared for like delicate garments—hand wash gently or dry clean, similar to a silk blouse or wool sweater.
What Is Needle Felting?
Needle felting is a dry felting technique that uses a small, barbed needle to sculpt and shape processed wool and other fibers into detailed forms. As the needle is repeatedly poked into the wool, the barbs catch the fibers and tangle them together, allowing the artist to build shape, texture, and even expressive characters. Each creation is unique and made with high-quality materials like wool, alpaca, silk, or bamboo. While some needle felted items are firm and sturdy, they are not toys and may contain small parts—making them unsuitable for young children.
About the ARtist
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." — Author unknown
Treka Wenner has been passionate about art for as long as she can remember—exploring everything from drawing and painting to pottery and jewelry making. Her creative journey into fiber arts began with crochet and knitting, but it was in 2019 that she discovered felting—and with it, a deep connection to the meditative, tactile nature of working with wool.
Over the years, art has become an essential outlet, offering Treka both calm and creative challenge. She delights in using natural fibers—such as wool, silk, alpaca, and bamboo—to transform everyday materials into something beautiful and unexpected. She often incorporates remnant fabrics, vintage wooden containers, and found natural objects into her work, giving new life to forgotten things through upcycled design.
Whether needle-felting a whimsical sculpture or wet-felting a “wool painting,” Treka finds magic in the transformation of loose fiber into solid structure. Each piece she creates reflects her deep love for nature, texture, and the process of making.
A lifelong Oklahoman, Treka lives in rural Logan County with her husband, Tim, their teenaged son, Jonathan, and their spirited cattle dog, Sophie. As a family, they enjoy spending time outdoors—hiking, camping, and exploring new places.
Treka graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1998 and earned a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma. She has worked as a full-time Physician Assistant since 2005, specializing in urgent care since 2006.
Her art education began in childhood through both school-based and private art lessons. Today, her study of fiber art continues through in-person and online workshops—as well as countless hours of self-directed experimentation. She currently works from her studio in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where she hosts weekly open studio hours and teaches group classes, private lessons, and creative parties.
Artist resume
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
Treka Wenner
FIBER ARTIST
Guthrie, OK | 405-255-8021 | FibersOfMySoul@gmail.com | FibersOfMySoul.com | FB & IG: @FibersOfMySoul
Summary
Using natural fibers to create beauty from the ordinary and sometimes unexpected is deeply satisfying to me. I also enjoy giving cast-off items such as remnant fabrics or vintage wooden containers, as well as found objects from nature, new life by upcycling them into her fiber art pieces. Whether needle-felting a three-dimensional sculpture or wet-felting a “wool painting,” I feel there is something magical about making solid structures and fabric from wool fiber.
Juried Exhibitions
Nov-Dec 2024 Paseo Arts Association, Small Art Show, Oklahoma City, OK
July 2024 Fiberworks, 108 Contemporary, Tulsa, OK
April 2023 Harn Homestead Spring Art Show, Oklahoma City, OK
September 2022 The Doodle Academy Gallery Show and Sale, Ponca City, OK
Art Shows & Events
September 2024 Oklahoma Art Guild, Fall Member Show
June 2024 Artisans of Logan County Show and Sale
May 2024 Edmond Art Association Spring Member Show and Sale
January 2024 Guest Artist, In Your Eye Gallery
2023 and 2024 Edmond VIBES, 1st Thursday Art Walks
November 2023 NW Arkansas Fiber Festival, Art sales and Workshop Instructor
March 2023 & 2024 Eureka! Fiber In the Ozarks, Art sales and Workshop Instructor
July 2022, 2023 & 2024 Fiber Christmas in July, Art sales and Workshop Instructor
Awards
Best Of Show, Oklahoma Art Guild Fall Show, 2024
Third Place Award, Edmond Art Association Spring Show, 2024
Honorable Mention, Harn Homestead Art Show, 2023
Fiber Arts Education
I have loved art my entire life - from drawing and painting in art classes as a child, to learning to make pottery as an adult. My first dive into fiber arts was with crochet and knitting. I began my felting journey in late 2019. I was fortunate to discover a local art studio that offered felting classes and quickly signed up for my first two classes. Unfortunately, Covid had other plans for us, and the studio shut down in early 2020. I then turned to online sources for much of my training. I have taken many online based courses and workshops, spent many hours watching free tutorials and many more hours learning in my studio by trial and error. I have also developed close friendships with many other fiber artists in my community and enjoy sharing ideas and inspiration with them.
Artist Associations
International Feltmakers Association
Member since 2021. You can find more information about IFA here.
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Fibers Of My Soul
316 South Division Street, Guthrie, OK 73044
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