Business name: Martien van Zuilen
Martien van Zuilen
www.martienvanzuilen.comMartien van Zuilen (born The Netherlands, 1962) is an established felt artisan and fibre artist based in Perth, Western Australia. She uses wool fibres, mixed media and collected objects to create complex felted forms, sculptural works and distinctive objects, entirely by hand. Martien exhibits her high-quality distinctive artworks nationally and internationally. Since the late 1980s she has delivered felt-making workshops throughout Australia,
as well as in Europe and throughout the USA.
Martien was instrumental in establishing the Victorian Feltmakers Inc. in 1995 and for 18 years (1998-2016) she coordinated the Australian National Yurt Project. In 2013, she completed her PhD (Anthropology) with an ethnographic thesis on the significance of women’s textile art practices within the context of Australia’s cultural landscape.
Martien is the current editor of Australia’s national magazine FELT, and the Convenor of Fibres West Inc. (www.fibreswest.com.au). Alongside her studio practice, Martien maintains an active teaching schedule and undertakes curatorial work. She has written extensively about the value of the handmade and the meaning of making in contemporary arts practice. Through her artisan dyeing studio Colourant Dyeworks, she supplies artists with high quality hand-dyed fibres and fabrics.
Martien’s artwork is published in numerous international publications, including Showcase 500 Art Necklaces (book), Surface Design Association (USA), Textile Fibre Forum (Australia), Felt Matters (UK), ViltKontakt (Netherlands), Fiber Art Now (USA), Yurts Tipis and Benders (book), FELT (Australia), verFilzt Und zugeNäht (Germany), the 2015 book Pots and Pods for Feltmakers, Adventures in the Third Dimension, the 2016 book Worldwide Colours of Felt, the 2019 book The Women’s Gallery 1988-1995, and the 2020 book Felt Forward: New Technologies in Feltmaking. Her 2018 work Standing Tall (5 hand-felted vessels) was selected for the juried exhibition ‘Family Matters’ in the US (Surface Design Association). Her 2020 work 'Holding' was selected for the juried exhibition Felt::Fibre::Transformed in the US (Fiber Art Network).Statement of Practice:
Making felt is a tactile exploration; a hands-on process of transforming loose wool fibres into durable and distinctive objects. Throughout the years, my sense of curiosity and excitement when making felt is undiminished. I delight in the freedom of the medium and the potential to add layers of meaning and intent along the way. Process is everything. What matters is an intentional engagement, and the interplay of materials, experience, design, and ideas.I have been a maker of felt for over 35 years. During this time, insights about the significance of my materials have refined my focus while various influences have had a direct bearing on the development and direction of my work.In 1997 I travelled to Mongolia where I spent time among nomadic people and slept in their felt-covered tents. The seasonal and communal nature of environments in which people survive and thrive with so little, and the importance of felt to people’s daily existence struck a heart-felt chord and touched me deeply, culminating in postgraduate studies in anthropology and a profound effect on my arts practice and creative work. For example, a recurring, explorative theme in my art practice is that of shelter; considering what is truly required to survive, thrive, to be content, to make, to belong.
The significance of my artmaking lies in the engagement with an ever-evolving process, a gradual, creative becoming, never finite. Along the way, my work aims to strike a balance; between what wool fibres do in a very practical sense (they interlock to form a durable textile) and the potential to convey a heart-felt story in visual and tangible form. Sharing the magic of felt through teaching is something that continues to give me great enjoyment. I feel fortunate to be part of a vibrant community of makers; the social networks and spirit of generosity mean the world to me.
