Veeka Trofimova
Center for the Environment

Veeka Trofimova is the Administrative Assistant at the Center for the Environment at Smith. She lives in West Springfield with her partner Brian, and, although she doesn’t have any pets right now, she hopes to get a dog in the near future. Other than work and creative arts, Veeka enjoys mushroom foraging and dancing the Argentine Tango.

Veeka has a background in art, having studied ceramics and sculpture in college, where she did a lot of installation work and sculpting, using a myriad of unconventional items such as sugar, wax, paper pulp. Veeka really enjoys trying out different mediums and learning how to work with new materials.

This past winter Veeka came across an image of really beautiful slippers on Pinterest. The image turned out to have been created using a technique called wet felting. Wet felting, she learned, is the process of turning wool fiber into a cloth by using soapy water and friction to lock the fibers together. It can be used to create both flat and dimensional pieces.

Her interest piqued, Veeka began watching videos, looking up felt artists, and learning a bit about the history of this craft. What she learned is that wet felting is a very old craft that goes back to the nomadic people of Central Asia. In fact, wool felt is considered to be the oldest known textile.

Veeka eagerly jumped into learning and practicing this new-to-her art form. One thing she loves about it is that she is able to create a new piece from start to finish in one sitting. In the current work-from-home conditions, her craft table doubles as her work desk, so having art projects that can be done in one sitting is extra helpful. She also loves that the process allows her to manipulate the material directly with her hands. It reminds her of sculpting, but encourages experimentation with color.