About the Baad Hatter
Sonja Oswalt, otherwise known as the Baad Hatter, is an award-winning felt and fiber artist in Knoxville, Tennessee. Sonja has been a creative, crafty person her whole life. Prior to her fiber art journey, Sonja dabbled in watercolor painting, crochet, jewelry-making, and a variety of other modalities. She began working with fiber in 2011, starting with a small commercial kit. It was a disaster! Her interest was peaked by the possibilities wool and silk offer, however, and she forged forward through experimentation, reading, online courses, and traveling to learn from master felters, teachers, and mentors around the globe.
Sonja's work focuses largely on themes of nature, social justice, and whimsy. However, her work also reflects the ever-changing nature of her ADHD brain. True to that nature, she refuses to be constrained to a specific niche and often skips from one topic to another in unexpected ways, allowing creativity and imagination to drive her work.
Sonja loves to teach individuals and groups of both adults and children the art of felting. Her students have ranged in age from 8 to 80. Her work is currently available at the Southern Market in Knoxville, where she also teaches "make and take" classes on occasion. She offers lessons through the Appalachian Arts Crafts Center in Norris, Tennessee, and in pop-up locations across east Tennessee. She is available for "Stab and Blab" parties and individual lessons upon request.
Sonja has been featured live on Living Felt's "Woolly Wednesdays" where she shares her online beginner-friendly tutorial for felting beautiful macaws; and she has been featured in Knoxville's Maker City publication, among others. In addition to collaborative clothing and member exhibitions, her portraits showcasing the use of wool blending to achieve a variety of skin tones exhibited as "Skin Deep- Portraits in Fiber" at Knoxville's Art and Culture Alliance Emporium Art Gallery. She is an active, juried member of Foothills Craft Guild in Knoxville, and participates in their annual fine arts show. Sonja is also the mind behind a wise little friend, The Tiny Kraken, on Instagram.
