Dutch-Indonesian artist Gladys Paulus (b. 1973) lives and works in Somerset, England.
A fourth generation artist/maker, she studied drawing and painting at Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht before moving to the UK in 1995, where she started exploring traditional crafts. Handmade felt remains her current medium of choice. Paulus creates work which hints at a loss of a sense of sacredness in this world, and often stems from personal questions around her ancestry and her identity as a woman of mixed heritage. Her work straddles the worlds of fine arts and crafts, managing to find a space entirely of its own, and pushing the boundaries of the medium of felt in doing so.
Paulus is a visiting tutor at specialist textile venues across the UK, Europe, USA and Canada. She is an exhibiting member of the 62 Group of textile artists and is on the Crafts Councils Selected Index of Makers.
Felt is a unique, non-woven textile made from wool fibres. The art of felt making predates woven cloth and is thought to date back to Neolithic time. Felt making is an ancient and alchemical process during which wool fibres shrink and come together to form a dense mat when subjected to heat, humidity, friction and a change of alkalinity. The felt can be shaped and sculpted into 3-dimensional forms as it shrinks.
EDUCATION
2009
Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector, Trowbridge College, UK
1990-93
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (College of Fine Arts), Utrecht, the Netherlands
AWARDS
2016
Whois Publisher Prize winner, Arts & Crafts Design Awards
EXHIBITIONS
Other
2022-29
Our Colonial Inheritance, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Solo
2020
Hinterland, Greenhill Arts, Moretonhampstead, UK
2017
Hinterland, Black Swan Arts, Frome, UK
Group
2018
The Selkie: Weaving & the Wild Feminine, Onca Gallery, Brighton, England
2016-17
Zoomorphic, Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre, Torfaen, Wales
2016
A Darn Good Yarn, Greenhill Arts, Moretonhampstead, England
2014-17
Black Sheep – the darker side of felt, national touring exhibition by the National Centre for Craft & Design (UK). Venues across the UK
2015
Etsy Four Corners of Craft, London Design Week, London.
2015
Shape Shifting & Story Walking, Rook Lane Arts, Frome, England
2015
Open Studios, The Bennett Centre, Frome, England
2015
Makers, RedEarth Gallery, Tiverton, England