These felts of simple leaves were made for the exhibition Leaves: an Impression. Subsequent pinnate leaves were made to increase coverage of the other important tree species in Ontario.
Through imagery and narrative, I am sharing my perspectives on a familiar plant structure, leaves. I present leaves of Ontario’s trees in diverse and unexpected ways to reveal some of their superpowers, vulnerabilities, and connections between the vitality of leaves and human activities. Sheila’s multicoloured, large felt leaves present extreme future responses to human-induced changes in habitat and climate. Pinnate leaves called for a different felting technique due to their complexity. These are reconstructions of an actual leaf, measured and cut from Sheila’s own upcycled remnants of nuno or paper felts - reimagined with lichen print surfaces, multicoloured, blue - responding to unknown environmental conditions in 2050.
“Leaves tend to be in the background of daily human life, and unless you are a tree, your life generally doesn’t depend on them. If, after spending some time at the show, you take away a greater appreciation of leaves of all shapes, sizes and superpowers, and think about what we humans are doing to impact their well-being, then I think we would take that as a win. “ - sheila thompson 2024 haha
