My current work, “Women of the Mountain” — which celebrates my MawMaw and Mom — was recently accepted by the Trillium Project at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, OH (USA). The Trillium Project celebrates “all things Appalachia.” I was deeply honoured to have my needle-felted piece chosen. Out of 115 artworks of all kinds submitted, mine was one of just 27 juried into the exhibition. The opening reception will be Wednesday, September 10, 2025, from 5–7 pm, and the exhibition will run from September 8 through November 25, 2025.
I currently live in West Virginia (USA) and feel very fortunate to call this beautiful state of abundant forests home. By trade, I have been a Registered Nurse for 39 years, and today I work as a Nurse Case Manager and Manager of 14 nurses across six states. Interestingly, my nursing degree is an Associate in Arts in Nursing — because the University of Charleston considered nursing an art, just as Florence Nightingale did.
I grew up a coal miner’s daughter in a “holler” called Robinhood, in West Virginia in the 1960s and 1970s. Forests, trees, and “roads to nowhere” were my sanctuary. My MawMaw was a healer, and she taught me which plants were safe to eat, which mushrooms to avoid, and how tree bark could be made into teas to cure pain or other miseries. Tree limbs became whistles, fishing poles, bows and arrows, even toy cars. Fishing while sitting on the roots of the extraordinarily huge poplar tree was one of life’s greatest pleasures. The forest provided everything I needed — shelter, food, and fresh water to drink. It was my playground, my classroom, and my life. Even today, when the world feels heavy on my shoulders, I can return to the woods to let go, recharge, and heal.
MawMaw’s daughter, my Mom, was endlessly creative. She made quilts from cotton feed and flour or cornmeal sacks — all colours, types, and patterns. People from all around the area loved them. She was also busy making jams and jellies, knitting, crocheting, hand-sewing my clothes, and working on the farm: growing and preserving food, and raising the animals that sustained us.
Needle and wet felting came to me purely by accident, when a friend taught me the basics. I fell in love instantly. This was the first art form that truly spoke to me and allowed me to express myself in new, wonderful ways. I am self-taught, learning from online videos, and I am also part of online felting communities where we share and critique each other’s work.
My company, Felting From the Heart, began after I had been felting for a while. My husband — a nature photographer who loves the forest as much as I do — had taken a photograph in one of our woodlands after his first wife passed away from cancer. When I looked at it, I saw the shape of a heart. I recreated it in wools and silks, calling it “Heart of My Heart” to represent everything he and I both love. That piece became the beginning of my felting journey as a professional artist.
Article by Liz Haley