WENDY CUMMINS
‘Hope is the thing with feathers’
5 - 30 March 2025
Wendy Cummins is a multi-disciplined artist living on the northern beaches of Sydney. Having always led an active, outdoor life she finds connection, calmness and inspiration in the natural environment and this is very evident in her work.
“I cannot remember a time when I haven’t felt a longing to be out in nature, a need to feel free and timeless. In nature I’ve journeyed from wild childhood explorations and enchantments to active adult endeavours, expeditions and competitions to the understanding that my time in nature is my grounding, calming and inspiration. It is also most obviously the source of my artwork.
I’ve always been a creative and my practice is drawing based. My fascination with materiality and texture has led me to explore numerous mediums and methods, from pencil, charcoal, ink, watercolour, gouache, print making and most recently wool and textiles.
I describe my works in wool as ‘drawing with wool’ as I build layers of colour, line and texture to create my sculptural images. This process is slow, meditational and tactile and gives me a strong connection to both my work and subject.
My obsession with birds is born from a feeling of connection, with their freedom and the timeless promise of new beginnings.”
“Birds have become a central theme of my work and each piece begins with the bird. Very often from my photographs, taken while out on my walks, but also photographs from other local photographers (with permission of course). This gives a stronger connection to each piece of work.
I begin felting the bird by using a fine felting needle and wool, working the needle on a foam mat. My wool of preference is fine Merino wool tops but I also use Corriedale wool, raw wool and others. I pull and push small amounts of wool into approximate shapes and begin felting. As this begins to form, I add more wool to increase and improve shape and size. I often build sections and then join as I go along. This is especially the case for wings and beaks and feet, which may need to sit over, above or below the rest of the bird.
I use many different colours which I blend in the felting process. I blend from the front and back of the pieces. From the front I get a bolder blend and from the back something more subtle.
This may sound confusing but it’s a simple process really where the magic ingredient is time.
Each piece takes an average of 40 dedicated hours. Complicated pieces can take up to 60 hours.
My backgrounds are abstract however there is more often a link to the original photograph, whether it be in colour, shape or texture. My backgrounds are made by layering natural textiles, mostly linens, cottons and silks. I both sew these together and use a multi-needled felting tool to punch the fibres together, depending on the textures and layers.
I also experiment with adding hand stitching or punching fibres from back to front or front to back to obtain some different textures.
Once I have everything “down” or punched and pulled together securely I hang the work on my easel for finishing. This can take another day or two just fiddling and adjusting until it feels complete.”