An accomplished collage artist, illustrator and printmaker, LaRue King has always worked concurrently in the more intimate medium of fiber arts. In recent years she has developed a unique synthesis of felted wool, stitching and beading, which proved to be an inspiring means for freely combining her design aesthetic with her explosive, joyful color and form.

She explains: "After years as a graphic designer, often working in two dimensions and for mass production, I have been renewed by the deep satisfaction of creating unique handmade objects. Combining complex, intuitive design with the tactile delights of wool, thread and beads, my pieces have taken on an almost absurd exuberance that brings great pleasure to me and to those who are discovering my work."

Barbara LaRue King's felted, stitched and beaded pieces can be semi-abstract and organic, playfully sophisticated, or beautifully comical, but all share the artist's unmistakable love for life-affirming blasts of daring color and intricate, fascinating detail.

Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, LaRue King grew up on a small farm in central Indiana. She attended Ball State University, graduating cum laude with a BA in Fine Arts and later summa cum laude with Master's Degree emphasis on Graphic Arts and Design. Marriage and motherhood allowed only an hour or two a day to pursue fine art; then with three children still at home she became a single mother and re-entered the workforce as a graphic designer.

LaRue King's design at Indiana Glass rejuvenated the company's packaging and marketing, placing the company on a national footing with its competitors. Her own line of design-on-glassware was distributed nationally through department store chains, including 350 J. C. Penney locations.

While a designer at Warner Press in Anderson, Indiana, LaRue King caught the attention of Hallmark, Inc. Working at Hallmark's Ensemble Company division she designed product lines for Franklin Covey, the United States Post Office, and other high-profile Ensemble clients. Most recently she has been employed at Hallmark's Kansas City headquarters designing album and giftwrap lines in Hallmark's Gifts Studio.

The felting artists today don't have to own their own sheep for their fleece, they can just order wool fleece from suppliers on the internet! Wool fleece is sold cleaned, combed, and dyed in beautiful colors. The only other tool one needs is a felting needle to make felt. This is called dry-felting, or needle-felting. There is also wet-felting, where the artist layers the fleece, adds a bit of dishwashing soap and water, and manipulates the felt, agitating with friction over something textured like bubble wrap or screenwire. The goal in both the dry and wet methods of felting is to convince the wool fibers to interact, compact and harden into felt fabric.

For me, when I take a cloud of beautiful, colored fleece, and a funny little felting needle in my hand, and I begin to poke that needle into the fleece, it's just as exciting as dipping a brush in paint, painting on canvas or paper, or making a sculpture of clay, or creating a piece of silver jewelry. Felting with fleece and adorning it with my embroidery and embellishing it with beading -- this is just about as good as it gets!