Violet Racz :: Q&A with a Fibre Artist and volunteer

Today’s Q&A is with our amazing volunteer, Violet Racz, a very talented fibre artist. We are so incredibly thankful for all her help with felt :: feutre canada. We just can’t say enough about how wonderful she is. Violet was a large part of what made our 2016 symposium so good.

At present Violet is part of a group show Surfacing: Art Felt Collaborative, Installations by Okanagan fibre artists Amy Burkard, Violet Racz, Judith Mueller, Diane Goossens and Alice Pallett. which runs from: October 8 to 29, 2016 at the Salmon Arm Art Centre. We know it will be a huge success.

Why did you chose to volunteer for felt :: feutre canada? 

The opportunity to work with Fiona Duthie & Vinitha John was one I couldn’t pass up!  I’m very passionate about felting and I also believe that Canadian felters are ready to create a vibrant felting community locally and across our vast country!  I also felt I had lots to offer and my attention to details (OCD) could be an asset.

Where do you find the time to volunteer?

I don’t do a lot of volunteering because of physical challenges I deal with as a result of a back & neck injury. Working from home and being able to set my own pace (a nap in the afternoon is necessary) made working on this project doable for me. 

How do you balance your volunteer time with other working time, family time, social time? 

Balance?! Honestly, I think it’s impossible to balance working on a big project like felt :: feutre canada with my husband, animals, artistic creative time & conscious time! One or several miss out when one aspects becomes very intense, so I don’t even pretend I can keep everyone happy. I usually end up doing things to appease my guilt like over-treating my dogs or an extra glass of wine to counteract the time spent in front of the computer!

I’m extremely fortunate that I have a very supportive husband who wants me to pursue felting. The added bonus is he also loves to cook so when we spend time together it revolves around food, wine & walking our two Aussie Shepherds. I had to set a lot of things aside so I could focus on the Symposium. I was super excited to watch it evolve into a fantastic event and one that so many felters were so enthusiastic and appreciative to be apart of.  The hard work was well worth the outcome.

My favourite volunteering moment?

The entire felt :: feutre canada event! Planning, corresponding and seeing felt :: feutre canada evolve was very exciting. Meeting the instructors and participants that I’ve corresponded with and being so pumped and excited about being there. I have to say when my name was called out as winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Revel it was surreal! I was very surprised and so grateful for the recognition. I immediately called Michael and my amazing 91 year old Mom to share the great news and to hear how proud they were, really warmed my heart.

What have I taken away from this experience? I’m very grateful for the opportunity to share this experience with so many incredible women! I have a great group of  felting friends, the Art Felt Collaborative that have been very supportive and understanding of my distracted mind. I got and gave a lot of hugs during the symposium and that energy and those memories will carry me for awhile. Working on my own felting practice slipped off my plateful so I look forward to creating some interesting pieces as I hunker down in my studio and hibernate over the winter with my stash of treasures!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us Violet. We loved hearing from you.