"Amygdaloid Examined", 15" x 15" round, wool felted, 2018
NPS/Phyllis Fredendall
About the Artist
Born in the Upper Peninsula, Phyllis Fredendall is professor of Fiber and Fashion Design at Finlandia University’s International School of Art and Design in Hancock, Michigan. She teaches weaving, spinning and off-loom structures; garment design; jacquard design using CAD software; dyeing and printing; and two- and three- dimensional design fundamentals.
Phyllis has studied weaving in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, California and British Columbia; garment design in New York City; and felt making and printing and dyeing in Finland. She has had the privilege to serve as visiting lecturer in Finland, Estonia, and Canada and has enjoyed artist residencies on Isle Royale National Park (August 9th to August 28th, 2002 and August 7th to August 22nd, 2018), Xanadu in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, and at the Huopakeskus (felt center) in Petäjävesi, Finland.
In her current art practice, Phyllis explores the relationship of memory to place working primarily in wool and silk and using the process of hand felting. The maps of the Quincy Mine whose shafts lace nearly two miles under her home in Hancock continue to inspire and inform her felt works which have been exhibited regionally and internationally.
