Shelley Birkholz
Yarn Art

Shelley Birkholz is a pioneering artist based in Ottawa, Canada, whose guiding principle is: “discovery follows exploration”. This leads to her utilization of yarn to depict sensitive observations of nature. A description of Birkholz’s practice must specify what it is not, i.e., arts such as painting, embroidery, or felting. Instead, Birkholz glues varieties of yarn to panel, from wool to synthetic blends, working thousands of strands to create remarkably rich textural and tonal landscapes. Birkholz’s alternating use of contrast and subtle shifts is sometimes dramatic; other times spacious and soothing; always alive and arresting. 
Shelley Birkholz, born in Ottawa, Canada, is a contemporary artist who continues to live and work in Ottawa. She is renowned for her landscape ‘paintings’ made not from paint, but from yarn on wood panel. Birkholz’s work is her own sensitive study of nature and an immersive exploration of her medium through line, colour, value and texture. Birkholz balances these elements to create rich, spacious landscapes.