Zoe Williams

Posted on January 20, 2012 - by Kate

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I have no idea how I haven’t heard about New Orleans native, Zoe Williams, until this week – needlefelting to the limit, I love it. I must get 50 or 75 newsletters a day and there are some I never open but Lost at E Minor has some really crazy stuff and this week, Zoe was it.

Those are needle felted rabbits feet mounted like traditional taxidermy. I have looked at some amazingly weird and wonderful taxidermy before from the likes of Rachel Denny, Elaine Bradford and others but this might just be my favorite.

I love these little animal noses (rabbits again, a favorite of mine). I also really truly love feltidermy but for some reason it seems like no one else is experimenting with animal parts in this form.

What’s also crazy to me is that she’s only one year older than I am and she’s doing this! She lived in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina and now lives in NY, NY.

She literally has a combo of all of my favorite things in her work – animals, animal parts, taxidermy (of the textile variety), nature, sea list, etc. In her bio she talks about exploring dreams as a part of personal mythology – I love that idea of having a personal mythology. It’s so true. When I wake up for that moment when I remember my dream I think – wow where did THAT story come from.

If you can dream it you can needlefelt it I assume I love that these pieces break outside their boundaries and incorporate beading (I think) into their tentacle-like forms. Though to be fair, given how hungry I am right now, these look like soft serve with sprinkles on top.

These look like punk hairdos to me – or urchins, big urchins.

Totally epic. About her work and her influences Zoe says, “My own experiences in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina also inform my work and no doubt contribute to my desire to give permanence to the fragile and ephemeral.” I might just be in a mood but it’s always so so very interesting to hear where people are influenced from and how life experiences (unexpected ones in particular) can completely shift a creative flow.

I love octopus tentacles in art – they can regrow when they get wounded / cut. That’s rejuvenation right there.

My last and maybe my favorite, HUGE rhino, breaking through and out of the frame, gold, magical, dream-like – beaded, leafed, realistic but not at all. Who needs a unicorn when you’ve got this!