Althea Bilodeau

North Chittenden, Vermont

Althea Bilodeau is a fiber artist who creates clothing and accessories using wool felt and silk. In her unique pieces, her hand-dyed silk fabrics and wool fiber are joined together by hand into felt fabric using the age old traditional wet felting technique.

Althea’s natural draw to color and fabric was nurtured in her youth having been surrounded by the yarn and fiber collected and artistically combined by her mother, Gloria Scannell, a fiber artist well known in the weaving community. A young student of sewing and weaving, Althea pursued her interest in fashion through costume design, construction, and modeling. Her hand-dyed silk charmeuse fabrics were featured in three dresses designed by American Fashion Designer, Chris Benz, in his Fall 2010 collection. Her felt was introduced by Benz in Fall 2011, and then featured in his Resort 2012 collection with a jacket and coat made exclusively of Althea’s felt. Her own wearable art designs are sold at festivals, shows and galleries in the Northeast.

Background and Training

  • Studied weaving, garment construction, and costume design at State University of New York at Albany.
  • Student of international feltmaking instructors (in chronological order) including: Beth Beede (USA), Sharon Costello (USA), Polly Sterling (Australia), Jorie Johnson (Japan), Nicole Chazaud-Telaar (USA), Jeannette Sendler (Germany), Jenny MacKay (England), Myfanwy Stirling (Australia), Inge Bauer (Germany), Liz Clay (England), and Karoliina Arvilommi and Rod Welch (Finland).

Instructor Experience – Feltmaking

  • Adult Workshops – both individual and group.
  • SOAR (Success through Opportunity, Academics and Recreation) After-school Program – 2007 – 2009

Associations and Galleries

  • Northeast Feltmakers Guild – Co-President 2010 – present, Secretary 2004 – 2006, and the Vermont State Representative since 2003.
  • North Chittenden Women’s Art Collective – Founding Member 2009
  • Brandon Artists Guild – Brandon, VT – Juried Exhibiting Member since 2005
  • Edgewater Gallery – Middlebury, VT
  • Surface Design Association Member

Festivals and Shows

  • Vermont Crafts Council, Open Studio Weekend, North Chittenden, VT
  • New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, Rhinebeck, NY

Exhibitions

  • 2012 – “White on White with Touches of Color” – Jackson Gallery at the Middlebury Town Hall Theatre, Middlebury, VT
  • 2011 – “Creation Myths” – Northeast Feltmakers Guild – LARAC Lapham Gallery, Glens Falls, NY
  • 2010 – “Good, Good, Good, Good Fibrations” – The Fiber Art Show – T. W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center, Montpelier, VT
  • 2008 – 2009 “What’s Out Is In” Traveling Exhibition – Northeast Feltmakers Guild – LARAC Lapham Gallery, Glens Falls, NY and Artworks!, New Bedford, MA
  • 2008 – “Fabulous Fabric Art.” – Two-Person Show, Brandon Artists Guild, Brandon, VT
  • 2004 – “Fabulous Felt” Exhibition – Northeast Feltmakers Guild – Athens Cultural Center, Athens, NY