ISSN 2207-001X 12 January, 2023
SO MANY HOOKED RUGS! Family members and close friends all have been gifted one or more of your special creations; you have many rugs rolled up and stored in cupboards because of lack of wall/floor space, &/or you are in the throes of downsizing, but… you want to keep hooking, so what to do?
Putting your work up for sale may not be a realistic option because in today’s economy it’s not easy to sell art work, as most people don’t recognize, or just can’t afford to pay what it’s worth – taking into consideration the amount of time spent from design through to finishing and the cost of materials.
However, there is another option; have you considered bartering or swapping your work with an artist in another medium, i.e. potter or jewellery maker or quilter. Two of my rug hooking friends have done just that.
Brigitte Webb (Scotland) and Judi Tompkins (Queensland, Australia) have been good Facebook friends for several years and in recent years established an informal barter system. At one point Brigitte loaned a hooker a copy of one of her favourite rug hooking books, but didn’t get it back. Judi had two copies of that book (one autographed by the author) which she sent to Brigitte as a replacement copy. Brigitte in turn sent Judi one of her wonderful, hooked throw pillows. And so, the barter continued.
Recently, 3 more hard-to-find, out-of-print books found their way into Brigitte’s library and magically, a large, brightly coloured, hand-hooked rug found it’s way to Judi.
The rug Brigitte chose to send was one designed by Håkon
Grøn Hensvold (Norway) called
“The Doll’s House” (based on the 3-Act play of the same name by Henrik Ibsen). Brigitte and Håkon, also good Facebook friends and exchange items through their own barter system. Håkon gave Brigitte the copyright permission to hook his “The Doll’s House” one time (he drew the design for her on the linen).
Judi, overwhelmed by being gifted this piece, immediately attached a label to the back of the piece showing the copyright and story.
Judi decided that the best way to display the piece while keeping it intact was to attach it to a stretched canvas that would serve to emphasize the work and the vivid colours, requiring yet another label. Both the Norwegian designer and Scottish rug hooker approved of the addition.
Brigitte Webb and Håkon
Grøn Hensvold were featured in a 2019 video production by the Global Textile Hub… rughooking around the world; produced by Kira Mead, narrated by Kira & Warren Mead (
Lost the Plot Productions, Western Australia). You’ll see Brigitte’s work 3.30 min into the video and Håkon’s approximately 11 min in. Judi also narrated sections of the video, I (Jo Franco) did the research and networking in the lead up to the production.
This is just one way Australian rug hookers began using social media, global communications, and real-time chats to network with a very interesting world of makers.
In this Global Textile Hub video (
Rug Hub 2019) you can see works by, and hear from, or about, the following rugmakers.
Sadly a few are no longer with us.
Shown below by country (alphabetically) are the rug hookers, textile artists and authors/editors interviewed in the video. Where possible their status has been updated to include current websites and social media. For those not familiar with online videos, you can see in the tool bar at the lower/centre of the images where the person’s interview falls within the 23 minute long video.
AUSTRALIA:
Gail Nichols, Braidwood, New South Wales; three years ago this month, Gail was battling bushfires on her home front at Mongarlowe in the Braidwood area. With Gail’s permission, some of the images shared at that time on her Facebook page were shown at the end of Out of the ashes , a report of the 2020 bushfires at Miriam Miller’s Narrawilly Rug Room.
Gail is a renowned ceramicist, and she made this comment when asked about her hooked creations… “When dealing with galleries I describe my works as ‘hooked tapestries’. I find this communicates what they are more accurately than if I call them ‘rugs’. I faced a similar semantic issue during my previous 30-year career in ceramics. As far as galleries were concerned I made ‘ceramic art’ because that is their language, but amongst other clay workers we we’re usually happy to call our works ‘pots”. The full interview and images of Gail’s “hooked tapestries” can be seen here and more images of her contemporary hooked work on her Facebook page.
Miriam Miller, Milton, New South Wales, President of TIGHR during Australia’s term (2009-2012). Miriam’s Narrawilly Rug Room was also impacted by the
January 2020 bushfires, she was forced to evacuate her home at Narrawilly twice before the 23rd January 2020. Remarkably Miriam published both the January and February newsletters that year (Issue 48 & 49) on the first day of each month. You’ll find Miriam’s monthly newsletter
Connecting Us archived on this website. Those who’ve met Miriam know how steadfast she can be – here is an excerpt from her reports of the fires…
“Strange things help – Robert planted sunflowers as he always does around my house. None of them came up this year because of the drought. So there was a bare dry piece of ground in the paddock in front of my garden bed with the roses, which was covered with thick wood chips. If this garden had gone so would my verandah and my house, so thank you drought”. Through the end of 2022 both Miriam and Gail have been impacted by the horrendous floods that have left so many lives and property on the east coast in ruins! To contact Miriam please email:
narrawillyfarm@shoal.net.au
Shelley Pinnell, Albany, Western Australia, describes her Tapimatic rug making machine which uses the traditional ghiordes or rya rug making technique on traditional rug canvas. More information on those techniques can be found here https://schachtspindle.com/ghiordes-knots-or-rya-damascus-edge-and-finishing/
CANADA:
Val Galvin, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada – “Renditions In Rags Hooked and Braided Rugs”. Val says “ COVID has changed up my routine a BIT. I open up the Studio by appointment now and I’ve started teaching hooking and braiding again, usually through the local museums. Lately I’ve been dyeing wool and hooking that. Of course, I still use wool fabric and recycled textiles.. especially when rug braiding!” You can see Val’s work on her Renditions in Rags Facebook page
Lesley Larsen, Ontario, Ottawa past president Ottawa Olde Forge Rug Hooking. As librarian Jane Thacker, current president, created an interesting and helpful Resources page. Starting with the heading INSPIRATION; information on rug hooking history and galleries, including search tools, i.e. articles in Rug Hooking Magazine and its precursor, Rug Hooking News and Views. Other headings in this section are PREPARING TO HOOK, HOOKING, FINISHING, PUNCH NEEDLE HOOKING, COPYRIGHT/SELLING YOUR WORK, CARING FOR HOOKED PIECES, INSPIRATIONAL ARTISTS and MISCELLANEOUS GEMS – where you will find Miriam Miller’s large wall hanging story.
Deborah Merriam and Linda Chapelsky, Alberta, Canada.
Michelle Sirois-Silver, Vancouver, BC – Contemporary Textile Art Canada – you’ll find amazing fiber works by Michelle on her website and social media pages Instagram and Facebook
Also, Michelle’s take on teaching “an honest truth” is a must read – her opening statement “I don’t believe that art-making and teaching are mutually exclusive. It’s simply a choice.” Her thoughts on teaching include, generosity and sharing, her love of the craft form and learning something new. Michelle and I were in the same “workshop for teachers” twenty years ago, she’d already been teaching, and I was just starting out. We’ve meet up since in person in Vancouver on a few occasions, a visit to her studio 2015 being the last time, so her words on teaching in her studio resonate with me. I’ve followed her progress from a rug hooker to a contemporary Fiber artist and am in awe of Michelle’s creativity and body of work, while after all this time, I’m still doing more talking than hooking, but since discovering the word “networking” I feel happy that I’ve found my niche!
ENGLAND:
Sue Gilmartin, Cumbria, is involved as a volunteer with the Lunesdale Ruggers featured on the video and is one of the many creative volunteers at Space2Create a non-profit group, which aims to help people in their local community with physical and emotional difficulties by using creative activity to support a pathway to wellbeing. The group uses many creative techniques. Work by members can be seen on their Facebook page and Instagram A recent project “Bookshelves of the mind” an anthology by the S2C writing group working together over the last 4 years. The Book Launch took place at an Exhibition on 11th Nov 2022
On a sad note,
Diane Cox, Penzance, Cornwall
, who you will hear speak on the video about her group, The Myrtles, and the book they published “Doing what we can”, and
Heather Ritchie have both passed away since the video was made, Diane in 2020 and Heather in 2022. They will be sorely missed not only by their families and friends but by rug hookers around the world, many who travelled to the
2018 TIGHR Triennial held in Heather’s hometown of Reeth in the Yorkshire Dales.
VALE Diane and Heather
JAPAN: 
Fumiyo Hachisuka, Tokyo, Japan. Fumiyo held her 31
st Rug Hooking Exhibition in Musashino City, Tokyo Kichijoji, at Gallery Nagatani-1 from 13
th to 18
th October 2022. You can see Fumiyo’s recent work on her
website.
NORWAY:
Håkon Grøn Hensvold’s work has been featured in Rug Hooking Magazine, shown in Gallery exhibitions and can be seen on his
website and both
Facebook and
Instagram.
SCOTLAND:
Brigitte Webb, Dingwall, Scotland has no online social media presence, but she belongs to many online groups. In 2019 Brigitte had the great honour of being chosen as an international Rug Hooker of the year for the Hooked Rug Museum of North America. Brigitte travelled to Nova Scotia with a large suitcase full of her work which was on exhibit at the museum for a calendar year. The wonderful late Judy Carter visited the museum to see Brigitte’s rugs and at Brigitte’s request Judy was presented with the wall hanging of a Badger. Brigitte also donated to the Museum, a very large Egyptian floor rug she had hooked, designed by Christine Little, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Brigitte has had two earlier rug exhibitions in Dingwall where she lives; and has gifted most of her work over the years as she said “I did not wish to keep them rolled up and out of site and maybe last for years when I am no longer alive. One of my gifted pieces was for the now late darling Heather Ritchie. I made a cushion for her commemorating her dressing up as Queen at the castle during the TIGHR Gala dinner”.
UNITED STATES of AMERICA:
Janine Broscious, EVERYWHERE, USA. Janine and her husband reside in their fifth-wheel RV and travel the US. Her rug designs are obviously inspired by her travels and her interest in nature. Janine shares the progress of her rug art on her
blog and social media,
Facebook and
Instagram.
Susan L Feller, West Virginia, is an early adaptor of the digital world in fiber art, while maintaining traditional crafts which she uses to give a Voice to Causes and Communities through her art. She is an avid researcher and author and through journaling, on her
website ArtWools shares the progress of her fiber art projects such as her “Year Study” and 100 Days sketching. Her work has been juried into and received awards in multi media exhibitions nationally. You can also find images of her work on
Instagram and
Facebook.
Tracy Jamar, A Contemporary fiber artist and author. Tracy’s Fiber works; Sculptural, Mixed Fiber Techniques, Hookings, Odds and Ends, Black T Boros and Bone, Feather, Shell etc. can be seen in the Gallery on her website along with her books Coils, Folds, Twists and Turns: Contemporary Techniques in Fiber and American Sewn Rugs: Their History with Exceptional Examples by Jan Whitlock with Tracy Jamar. Also on her social media Instagram and Facebook
Marcia Young, Massachusetts. At the time of the video interview Marcia was the Editor/Publisher of Fiber Art Now magazine. After selling FAN, Marcia is now a fiber artist and author of the recently released “Create Naturally; Go Outside and Rediscover Nature“ and is now looking for her next project. Connect with Marcia on Instagram and Facebook
Images were also included in the video by Australian Rugmakers: From Western Australia, our dear friend Robin Inkpen, who passed away shortly after the video aired, Judith Stephens, South Australia, a cofounder of the Australian Rugmakers Group, Wanneroo Rugmakers (WA) and the Sunshine Coast Rugcrafters (QLD).
Prior to the Hook-in a Global Survey was sent out with the following questions…
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- Where do the groups meet?
- How often do members of a group meet?
- Are you a closed group, or are new members welcome?
- How did you learn to hook?
- Does your group give lessons or workshops?
- Passing on traditional crafts
- Taking rug work in a less conventional, more creative direction and displaying in a gallery
Answers from Australia, Canada, England, Japan, Scotland, UAE & USA can be found at the end of the video.
Editors Note: As I began this Blog with the sharing of work between Brigitte,
Håko
n and Judi I was reminded of the sense of “sharing” while gathering information in 2019 for the Global Textile Hub’s video. It’s been interesting and enjoyable reconnecting with those textile and fibre artists again to update their information. Thanks to Kira Mead and Judi Tompkins for their collaboration on this and other Global Textile Hub projects.
hand-hooked rugs and a children’s book. Profits will go to creating programs aimed at kids, promoting the traditional craft of rug making to a new generation.
common. Not only were they passionate about rug hooking and all things fibre art but their farms were only 15 minutes apart. They quickly became friends, and started traveling to rug hooking events together, joined the current board of The International Guild of Handhooking Rugmakers and realized they both wanted to curate a global rug exhibition that would appeal to the next generation of rug hookers.
pots and
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