ISSN 2007-00IX October, 2019
The Town Hall, High Street, Strathalbyn, South Australia, 
was the place to be on the weekend of the 5/6th October.
An interesting array of rugs was displayed and presentations given by local and international fibre artists.
It seems many rug hookers also have an interest in “woven” rugs. Aussie Guild members were in for a treat during the weekend in Strathalbyn
Betty Wolf Artist, Tapestry Weaver, Teacher (Dipl.Arts, M.Ed.)
travelled from her home in Normanville, South Australia to demonstrate Tapestry weaving at the Rugmakers Revelation exhibition in Strathalbyn.
Betty took up tapestry weaving as a hobby in the 1980’s while working in a busy job as Healthcare Educator in a Dutch Cancercentre.
The relaxing slow process of tapestry weaving and “playing” with colours has been a trustworthy companion during all transitions in her life ever since.
Passionate about sharing her skills with others, she taught several tapestry weaving workshops in Scotland where she lived in the 1990’s.
Having moved to remote rural South Australia in 2001 she enrolled in a six-year part time diploma course in Visual Arts/ Tapestry weaving at South West TAFE. This course offered a wide range of subjects that broadened her mind towards designing for tapestry. Part of the course was also a work placement where she was able to teach weaving and other art forms to people with mental health problems.
After finishing her course Betty was eight years involved in an “Art and Reminiscence” project for people with dementia in Murray Bridge, South Australia and conducted weaving and art workshops for people with mental illness.
As a member of the Murray Bridge Regional Art Society she participated regularly in art exhibitions with her tapestry weaving.
Betty moved to the Fleurieu Peninsula in 2016 and is now a member of the Yankalilla & surrounds Community Art Collective, represented by Gallery 88 in Yankalilla where she exhibits her woven tapestries.
As her passion is still, to share her skills with others, with a special interest in art and well-being, she offers workshops in “Weaving for Wellness” to community centres and small groups on request. At the moment she conducts weaving – and creative expression workshops as a volunteer for Aged Care.”
You will see in this video, the frame Betty used is simple and compact, Betty said that some of the larger tapestries are woven on a larger (wooden or metal) frame, but still a similar simple construction, just a larger size. They also have a simple “tension adjustment” system to tighten the warp strings as you go (no more than two screws) Contact Betty by email; bettywolf_56@live.com.au
Yvonne Dalton; Textile Artist & Eco Dyer 
on Saturday, Yvonne talked about her Eco dyeing (wrapping of trees) Eucalyptus and Acacias
also her Solar dyeing and … where she has taken her dyed fabrics – using them for the making of clothing, quilts, and combining with her handmade paper to create collages and sculptural works.
Yvonne had the audience in stitches describing how she destroyed several kitchen appliances in her attempts at paper making and now makes her paper from plant material in a cement mixer!
On Sunday we were treated to an interesting demonstration of Yvonne’s sculptural/3D work and the combining of organics and textiles, using crochet and stitch which she shares in this video.
Yvonne says “Reuse and re-purpose is at the heart of what I teach … most of my current workshops are out of ‘recreate’ which is a part of Mt Pleasant Natural Resource Centre. Mt Pleasant, South Australia. I work in primary schools and kindergartens usually. I also work with groups of adults at the centre and I do travel some distances at times to give workshops.
Some of the skills I cover are crocheted rugs and vessels, stitched vessels, stitched grasses …. also wire work and simple cold joining metal construction and beginner’s mosaic.”
Karen Kaiser – Textile Artist – Ontario, Canada
What makes an effective design?
SIMPLICITY, CONTRAST & BALANCE
Karen discussed her approach to design:
Karen says;“I think each piece should be a work of art and have its own appeal and wow factor. The roots of my designs vary with each rug…. but the goal in each one is to evoke emotion and a reaction. I try to coordinate the colours and line or flow with that emotion…. I love to surprise the viewer with colour, line and depth.”
The designing of a rug is a series of decisions.
In this video Karen talks about the design decisions and and then the process of coming up with a pleasing design.
Susan Sutherland – Rug Hooker, Textile Artist – Ontario, Canada
spoke to the “200 Hooked Cushions for my 200th” project and showed images of some of the many cushions she has photographed. Involved were over 120 cushion makers, with cushions sent in from across Canada, USA, UK, Scotland, Europe, and as far away as the UAE.
Organizer,Rémi Lévesque said he was surprised to see the success of a local community project that went global. The cushions will be permanently exhibited on the old wooden church pews.
The project started with a request for cushions to be made for the celebration of the 200th year of the Barachois Historic Church, in New Brunswick, Canada, now a local museum, art gallery, and summer concert venue.
As the posts of the finished cushions went up on the 200 Hooked Cushions Facebook page and were mentioned in Guild Blogs – many rug hookers from around the world were disappointed they hadn’t heard about this project earlier so they could have participated. Susan said they are still accepting cushions and would love to have some sent from Australia. If any Australian Guild members are interested in participating, Susan has offered to accept hooked pieces and take care of the rest; assembling cushions (adding sides, stitching, stuffing) and delivery to save on the expense of postage.
It is important the cushion measurements are correct, particularly the depth of the seat (from the backrest to the seat front). The benches are 78-80 inches long – the length of the cushions is not critical. However the depth is given as 12-13 inches. You don’t have to worry about the height of the cushion Susan will add the sides, just be sure and leave enough backing for her to work with. For more information on this offer, contact rughookingaustralia@gmail.com
Traveling Rugmakers: Miriam Miller, Jacqui Thomson (NSW) & Maggie Whyte (ACT)
Australian Guild members; Miriam Miller, Pres.Emeritus, Jacqui Thomson and Maggie Whyte, spoke of how much they enjoyed their experiences at TIGHR in Reeth. Susan Sutherland and mutual friend Marg Arland, also went to Reeth, so as the Australians spoke, Susan projected images of their visit to The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers 2018 Triennial Conference held in Heather Ritchie’s home town of Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales, UK.
Judith Stephens, Guild President and leader of Strath Matters, the rug making group hosting the weekend Exhibition,
had her work cut out, as members of StrathMatters also had many of their rugs on display in the Strathalbyn Show being held on the same weekend, so …….. two lots of rugs had to be gathered, sorted and delivered.
Judith still made time to present a “how to” demonstration on Twining, a technique very similar to tapestry weaving, only using strips of fabric instead of the fine yarns.
As well as organizing the Presenters for the weekend 
and sales tables of rug hooking materials and tools and rugs to be display in the hall, Judith also had some of her own rugs on display.
Judith creates her own designs for her hooked and proggy rugs, the bulk of her hooked works are politically and socially engaged art focused on the drought, mismanagement of water resources and Australia’s treatment of refugees.
Trish Carter, also a member of the Strath Matters group is a person of many talents; quilter, crafter and taxidermist.
Trish demonstrated how to make various types of bowls and rugs using inexpensive rope which she dyes.
Judi Tompkins – Textile Artist – Queensland, Australia
Judi likes to work BIG and often with the 3D rug hooking technique of Waldoboro, her art works are too big and elaborately framed to put in a suitcase to transport or mail.
I was in Queensland this year and saw what a huge undertaking it was after Judi’s solo exhibition to pack up the work from two rooms of the Gallery .
This has prompted Judi to think about creating some smaller pieces.
Below is “Alley View”, the beginning of a series. From up-cycled items Judi has created a shuttered window which can be opened to view a hooked alley embellished with colourful vessels and fabrics.
The creation of this piece was well documented and will no doubt be the subject of another of Judi’s books
There wasn’t a video of Judi’s presentation because the Guild meeting was to follow and Jo Franco was busy setting up her laptop and connecting online with Guild member Kira Mead in Albany, Western Australia. Jo had taken “impromptu” video footage throughout the weekend and shared with Kira to pull into something interesting to show Guild members who could not travel to the event, .
Jo Franco & Judi Tompkins – “Networking – Textiles and IT”
opened the weekend activities talking about the success of their virtual mixed media Exhibition (2018) and how it lead to the virtual Global Rug Hub in August 2019. The success of this virtual format of people with similar interest being able to come together in real time spurred them on to work out how the Guild could come together to hold meetings and events, see workshops and socialize without having to travel. Businesses do it all the time in “webinars”.
To work on these virtual events, the three Guild members, Jo Franco, Judi Tompkins and Kira Mead, have set up a group called the Global Textile Hub. An email invitation was issued to all Guild members and a handful of members attended virtually from ACT, QLD, NSW, and WA.
This meeting was another “first” and there were some teething problems with equipment preventing them sending a link to all the members to watch at a later date if they weren’t able to join the meeting at the designated time. Having spoken to those who did sign up, the consensus was it worked well, the members said they felt as though they were there. In future members viewing online will be able to participate in the conversation.
Nominations for the new Committee were accepted and they are; President, Maggie Whyte, ACT; Vice President, Marth Birch, NSW; Secretary, Miriam Miller, NSW; Treasurer, Tricia Thacker, WA; Editor/Membership Chair, Jo Franco, WA; Communications Chair, Judi Tompkins, QLD.
From the Editor: There were several items brought up for discussion at the meeting and more images from the weekend to share ….. enough for another Blog!
A big “Thank You” to all the presenters who allowed us to record and show their presentations, even though the person behind the camera is an amateur. Recording live without proper equipment is definitely a challenge, but we are doing all we can to bring members together and inspire. 
