Felicitas sloves
Felicitas Sloves’ family escaped the post WWII genocide called Bersiap and were forced to flee their original homeland in the Dutch East Indies, now known as Indonesia. Felicitas was born in the Netherlands, her family’s second homeland.
As a young child, Felicitas and her family emigrated to the United States and settled just outside of Boston. She was raised in a blend of European and Asian cultures in a home that displayed Javanese masks, shadow puppets and Indonesian batik textiles alongside Delft blue pottery and handwoven linens from the Netherlands.
The exposure to handmade textiles drew Felicitas to the fiber arts including sewing, knitting, dyeing, spinning and weaving. While studying American Folk Culture at SUNY’s Cooperstown Graduate Program, Felicitas began to focus her art on the creation of handwoven fabric.
Weaving since 1980, Felicitas is mostly self-taught as a weaver. Since that time, she has sold her handwoven scarves, clothing, women’s accessories and decorative wall hangings through craft fairs, art festivals, shops and galleries along the East coast and the Southeast.
After moving to Memphis in 2000, Felicitas also wove liturgical commissions for churches, synagogues, clergy and private collectors in the region. Additionally, she taught weaving to older adults living in the community through the not for profit organization, Creative Aging Memphis.
Currently, Felicitas designs and creates contemporary images, much of it inspired by masks worn in Javanese theater and dance. She weaves on upright tapestry looms as well as multi harness floor looms in her home studio. Felicitas holds an undergraduate degree in American Studies from Smith College and an M.A. in occupational therapy from Tufts University.
