Mary Blanche Morse is featured fiber artist at the Art Center of Estes Park

In partnership with the Art Center of Estes Park

​Mary Morse has been working with fiber for most of her life.

She learned to knit in the first grade and has been felting her own materials for more than two decades. She is the current featured artist at the Art Center of Estes Park, in conjunction with the FACE OF FIBER in the Rockies annual show.
 
She delights in creating designs inspired by nature and coloring her raw materials with natural dyes, including aspen leaves. One of her specialties is making felt hats. In the video above, Mary demonstrates how to felt a flower adornment on one of the hats featured in her show, “From the Creation: Natural Inspirations.” Mary is hosting Cari Cook as a guest artist in this vibrant exhibition.
 
The show runs through July 19 and thereafter, photographer Scott Dorman of Estes Park will be featured July 22-August 3, 2022. To see the entire schedule, visit the Art Center of Estes Park’s website.

Fiber art bowl by Mary Blanche Morse.

"The classroom crafts got her started with natural dyeing and working with
wool and silk. She had the idea that she needed to learn feltmaking. She signed up for a hat making class with Anne Sneary, who was the famous feltmaker in Boulder at that time. She made her first felt hat, wore it, and became a hat person. Soon she started making felt full time and her little business “full Spectrum fiber Arts” was born. For the next 10 years, she and her husband Fred traveled all over the country to art and fiber festivals. She marketed her handmade felt hats, tapestries, scarves, and other fun stuff. She taught classes, and got some cool awards. She had a mail order catalog of felt items. She kept experimenting and innovating with many techniques and goals. In 2004, she and her husband acquired the general store in Ward, and 'full Spectrum fiber Arts' was based out of there for 14 years in a gallery in the back.

Stained-glass scarf by Mary Blanche Morse.

"​When they sold the store and “retired,” she started showing her work at The Glass Tipi, the wonderful little gallery across the street from the store in Ward. After she was invited back to the Winners Circle in the FACE of Fiber Show at the Art Center of Estes Park, she joined and began showing there too. Her fiber art is also at The Old Gallery in Allenspark. These three galleries keep her plenty busy in her off grid studio back in the woods at 9000 feet where she and her husband live in small cabin.

Years ago, she started a “round alphabet series” of tapestries with one-word titles. She got to the letter M for music. Now she is continuing her series with N- Nature, O – Owlets, and P – Proverbs 5:3-5. Stay tuned! She also creates stained glass felt and art inspired felt scarves. She works with fibers dyed with aspen leaves, flowers, and plants. These natural materials get her going, and the possibilities are endless

"P" for Proverbs in Mary Blanche Morse's round series.

"Let There Be Light," framed tapestry by Mary Blanche Morse

Art scarf by Mary Blanche Morse

Detailed of finished hat shown in the video demonstration above!