Join fiber artist Andrea Dupree for a hands-on exploration of the ancient art of wet felting and learn to create a sculptural wool vessel from loose fibers, soap and water.
Just as Olive Rush's home continues to serve as a vessel for creativity, community, and artistic exchange, each participant will create a unique felted vessel that can hold treasured objects, natural collections, or simply serve as a reminder of time spent creating with others.
This workshop blends fiber art techniques with mindfulness practices and creative exploration. Using warm water, soap, and soft wool & plant fibers, participants will experience the slow, satisfying transformation of loose fibers into a strong, seamless form through layering, movement, and patience. Along the way, Andrea will share the fundamentals of wet felting & offer individualized guidance while encouraging attunement with materials, curiosity and playful experimentation.
Olive Rush once wrote, "Artists are spiritual adventurers, and the strange beauty of the Southwest invites us to dare all things." In that spirit, participants are invited to dare to explore the creative possibilities of this remarkable fiber process while enjoying an afternoon of conversation, making, and connection in one of Santa Fe's most inspiring artistic spaces. Beginners and experienced makers are welcome!
TEACHER: Andrea Dupree (www.bluebird-art.com) is an artist and educator based in Northern New Mexico with over 20 years of experience as a teaching artist. She holds a BFA in Studio Arts and an MA in Innovative Early Childhood Education with a focus on the Reggio Emilia approach, and is a Registered Yoga Teacher. Through her studio, Curious Bluebird LLC, she leads workshops that integrate fiber art, mindfulness, and embodied learning for diverse audiences.
Her work explores interconnected relationships between humans, nature, memory, and the unseen through felted sculpture, embroidery, installation, and land-based practices. Working with wool, plant fibers, and found materials, she creates textured forms that function as contemporary altars. Her work invites reflection, ritual, and reconnection. Rooted in animism, ecofeminism, and ecological attunement, she approaches materials as collaborators, allowing intuitive processes to guide the emergence of form. Influences include Catholic iconography from her South Louisiana upbringing and place-based practices centered on care and attention.
Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and art organizations including the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. In 2026, she is exhibiting at El Zaguán, Little Bites Gallery and Collect in Santa Fe, and presenting a large-scale fiber art installation for the New Mexico Museum of Art’s Vladem Contemporary. Curious Bluebird LLC is a 2026 recipient of a New Mexico Creative Industries Business Expansion Grant.
COST & MATERIALS: The cost of the class is $90. Additionally, each student pays a materials fee of $20 which covers ALL materials needed to create your vessel. Materials fee paid directly to instructor at start of class.