Jodie Janovec, Artist and Owner of Alice Hall Fiber Designs
“Another favored aspect of the work’s development is the calmness and clarity it often provides when I’m deeply involved in the making process, with a sometimes long, meditative state unfolding along the way. ”
Jodie Janovec, Owner of Alice Hall Fiber Designs, creates the felted soaps, ornaments, scarves, bookmarks, and journals you see adorning the front shelves of The Book Teller. She shares with us a little about who she is, how she creates her fiber designs, and what fiber art means to her.
TBT: Who are you and what do you do (besides Alice Hall Fiber Designs)?
Jodie: I’m a strong believer and practitioner of the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. I have a background working with the young child as a teaching assistant in Waldorf education. Along with educational work, I have also studied and practiced biodynamic agriculture, and completed The North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program in 2018. Within the last 10 years, I have worked as a flower farmer, agricultural curriculum coordinator, and held many roles alongside a wonderful team of biodynamic farmers at Turtle Creek Gardens in Delavan, WI. At Turtle Creek Gardens, I managed the greenhouse from the months of March through July, taking care of seedlings and transplants. I have stepped back from farming, although a great love, due to the high demand on my body to bring greater concentration to my fiber art practice through my business, Alice Hall Fiber Designs, named for my two grandmothers, Alice Clawson and Hildred Hall. Currently, I aim to combine all of my interests in Waldorf education, biodynamics, and fine arts while collaborating with a group of like-minded individuals to establish an outdoor-focused educational center in the East Troy, WI area.
Alice Hall Fiber Designs felted Kettle Moraine Honey soaps at The Book Teller
TBT: What got you started with fiber designs?
Jodie: In college, I studied Fine Arts and received a BFA degree in Painting. Fiber art is a connection to and an extension of my early work with canvas and oil paints. Building and experimenting with color relationships and applications connects the painter and fiber-sculptor in me. Along with my art degree, I also received a degree-certificate in environmental sciences and have family roots in farming and the outdoors. Combining my creative interests with my environmental stewardship efforts is where I am now. My greatest challenge within art was finding a completely sustainable material to create with. I strive to source local fiber and other materials utilized in my studio practice. The fiber allows me to build on and continue to further my relationships with the physical and spiritual natural world. Using and transforming a sustainable medium into art is a priority for me, and showcasing the animal’s and the shepherd’s important work is my responsibility. Working with fiber also keeps me close to my agricultural knowledge, passion, and interests.
TBT: What is your process?
Jodie: My process begins with sustainably produced and humanely sourced wool and alpaca fiber from local and regional shepherds and vendors. Additionally, my father, who lives in Kansas, owns two huacaya alpacas, which supplies me with huacaya alpaca fiber through my visits to see him, and vice versa! When I receive the huayaca’s fiber, I have to skirt, wash, and card the fiber, which takes a great deal of time and thus isn’t so economical to use for all of my goods. Due to this, and also due to the alpaca fiber’s durability, I use it largely to create felted dryer balls and felted dog toys.
One of my favorite sources of local wool is from the annual Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI. The four-day festival is a function of the Wisconsin Sheep Breeders Cooperative and features everything wool and wool related, from shepherding and shearing demonstrations, breeds and breeding education, design challenges and vendors galore. I can get most of my annual fiber supply needs taken care of at this great event.
After sourcing materials, I use wet felting as the primary process in developing the shapes and forms in my work, while I use needle felting to generate various surface information, such as color, pattern, low-relief shapes, etc. Wet felting is a process of connecting the refined, combed fibers to make a solid piece of fabric. This is accomplished with water, soap, and an appropriate amount of hand pressure while rolling the fiber until it is completely combined. Wet felting is a lengthy process, where one large piece can take numerous hours to complete. Needle felting is a process whereby one repeatedly “pushes and pulls” at the wool and/or alpaca fiber to connect various colored fiber, other pre-felted elements, etc., to the underlying wet-felted base. I use needle felting to generate surface shapes, patterns, colors, line variation, etc. upon the surfaces of my work. This process connects to my painting interests of the past, and allows me to create pieces that include both abstract and/or representational imagery in my work.
Alice Hall Fiber Designs wool pouches at The Book Teller
TBT: How has your work changed over time?
Jodie: My work has gradually become more design-oriented and abstract compared to the paintings I developed and included in my culminating BFA exhibition. A great deal of my earlier paintings were abstract, while many of my later paintings were representational, with images developed from photographic references. Additionally, much of my biodynamic agriculture studies and practice involves observation. Close observation and study of plant life in recent years has directly informed and benefited the work that I’m now doing with the needle felting. For a whole summer, I drew the leaves of a currant bush each week at the same time. This exercise involved imagining the changes that took place during the week when I wasn’t sitting in front of the plant. We were to picture them morphing and changing into the current stage. Collectively, it’s the combination of my abstract and representational imagery interests as a painter, and now as a fiber artist, along with my interests in the outdoors and organic and biodynamic agriculture - this is what informs, if not creates my current fiber work.
As a new and self, if not solo-employed small business owner, I also need my work to be visible and marketable. I am currently developing promotional materials and different in-person and web-based market platforms to increase visibility, and hopefully interest in my work. This is not a hobby for me, it is now my livelihood and my monetary contribution to my household’s income. As a maker, I must consider what people want to buy while simultaneously staying true to what excites me as an artist with integrity.
TBT: What’s your favorite aspect of the work you do?
Jodie: One favored aspect of my creative activity is that I experience so much variety along the way in the overall process of creating just one felted-wool piece. The washing, sorting, and carding processes are so completely different than the needle felting process, for example. Some days are very calm and controlled, such as while needle felting, while others involve a changing array of fiber and works-in-process around my studio and home in various stages of development. Another favored aspect of the work’s development is the calmness and clarity it often provides when I’m deeply involved in the making process, with a sometimes long, meditative state unfolding along the way.
Up close texture of Alice Hall Fiber Design’s wool scarves at The Book Teller
TBT: Who is your biggest inspiration?
Jodie: My biggest inspiration is the natural world all around me. It comes from the days I’m working with the children and exploring the forest floor with them, collecting maple syrup, and studying plant leaves in the garden. Showcasing this and building appreciation with everyone coming in contact with my work is my goal.
TBT: What’s your greatest goal this year?
Jodie: My goal for this year is to highlight the necessity of sustainable fibers and the role that these fibers have in the protection of the world's natural spaces and having clean air and a safe and clean world for everyone to live and thrive within.
TBT: Anything else you want to share with us about your artistry/creations?
Jodie: I hope to provide people with finely crafted works in felted wool via sustainably sourced materials and practices. We have alternatives to the big box stores for all of our goods.
Alice Hall Fiber Designs felted acorn ornaments at The Book Teller