Ruth Humphrey

Yesterday’s Garden is a collection of handmade, whimsical wool characters and other items you might imagine frolicking in gardens and forests. Ruth Humphrey, a former costume designer and theatre arts professor, discovered this art form just prior to the pandemic. After a couple of classes in felting techniques, she was hooked and began making a series of gnomes giving them names from A to Z. Before long she had the whole alphabet of gnomes with names fitting their characters. 

 

Creating characters from natural wools, some dyed in delightful colors, gave Ruth the opportunity to apply her skills in using textiles and her love of theatrical characters as well as her passion for gardening and being outdoors. Much of the wool she uses is from WV sheep. She researches animals, plants, and scenery for inspiration so she can achieve a somewhat realistic yet artistic result. Each piece is individually created using needle felting techniques. For some animals and characters she creates a wire sculpture to compose the form and then felts wool over the sculpture. Wooden stands and personal props are sometimes added to create character. 

 

Customers can find Yesterday’s Garden needle felted characters at Artists At Work in Elkins,WV; Appalachian Gallery in Morgantown,WV and at Mountain City Traditional Arts in Frostburg, MD.