As spring tries to break through the seam of winter, residents begin their preparations for the Easter season.
Artist Connie Swindoll brought her own touch of spring delight with a felting class designed to teach beginners how to create a rabbit with wool. The class, held Saturday, April 5, and hosted through the Brownsville Art Association, drew in nine students from different nearby cities who were hopping at the opportunity to learn.
The Brownsville Art Association is a volunteer-run organization that promotes and encourages the arts in and around Brownsville. Member artists from throughout Linn County display their creative works inside BAA’s Art Center, showcasing paintings and watercolors, clothing, photography,
felted designs, woodwork and a host of other handmade items.
And, of course, BAA is the center of artistic education in Brownsville, providing classes, workshops and fellowship on a regular basis.
Swindoll, of Lebanon, teaches a variety of felting classes. She creates felted 3-D figures, wool picture felting (“painting” with fiber), felted pet portraits and fiber bowls.
“It’s very calming and therapeutic; that’s what I like about it,” she said of the art. “I just get tuned into it.”