A BOULDER-BASED TEXTILE ARTIST CREATES WHIMSICAL PIECES OUT OF LAYERED FELT.
Maryanne Quinn, “Trees with Shadow” (2022, felted wool), 36x36 inches PHOTO COURTESY OF MARYANNE QUINN STUDIO
MARYANNE QUINN grew up painting colorful watercolor botanicals and spending long hours collaging with seashells and driftwood at her family’s beach house on Long Island. As an undergrad, she spent a year studying art and history in Florence and went on to become a graphic designer. She was introduced to wool when her children were in Waldorf preschool. “I developed a system that I still use today. The process was life changing,” Quinn says.
“Orange Poppy VII” (2022, felted wool), 44x46 inches PHOTO COURTESY OF MARYANNE QUINN STUDIO
Quinn’s studio bursts with colorful, hand-dyed merino wool from around the world, which Quinn handcuts, shapes and felts. What really stands out in her work are the bold colors. Influenced by midcentury field painters such as Helen Frankenthaler and Frank Stella, Quinn is sensitive to color and can organize it in a lyrical abstraction that she says is more descriptive of painting. “I love the fluid expanse in fields of colors,” she says. “This gives me energy.”
“Boardshorts” (2021, felted wool), 21x21 inches. PHOTO COURTESY OF MARYANNE QUINN STUDIO
The process of felting itself is incredibly fluid. Quinn sprays watered-down soap over a semi-finished piece to soften the felt and allow it to be worked and the layers of felt moved around. She can come back to it as often as she wants. But her art, likely due to her design experience and own elegant sensibility, is also clean, organized and, in her words, “chic.” She layers the felt, makes unexpected patterns and juxtaposes without matching, creating the perfect dramatic effect.
Quinn’s art evokes longing and connection with beach, water, family and light. She’s drawn to flowers because they are “gorgeous, wild and happy” and invite her in for constant study. Quinn’s work is available at Tweed Interiors in Telluride, Curate in Vail and through her studio (maryannequinn.com).
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