Barely Hooked, a show at Rae Harrell’s gallery, was a short drive from the Shelburne Museum. We were able to get there on Sunday; it is a wonderful gallery space and the show is well-worth seeing. Here are some of the highlights.
Rae Harrell’s Trophy Wife Gone to Seed…
Gina Steen’s After the Bath…
Gloria Reynolds’ Golden Earring…
Dianne Phillips’ All Together…
Janice McKnight’s The Bath 1…
Rae Harrell’s portrait of her husband…
Here are a few more rugs from this outstanding show in Shelburne Vermont. Still, it is just a small selection from the many pieces on the two floors of the Round Barn. It is our last day here, our class finishes up–but the show goes on until next weekend. I encourage you to see it if you can. If not, I will be posting more pictures here. There is so much to appreciate and learn from in this show.
This rug designed and hooked by Jen Lavoie is a piece I kept coming back to as I walked around the show. The photo does not convey its size which is over 5 feet wide–it is breathtaking. It is accompanied by the lyrics of the Bruce Springsteen song, This Train.
The next two wonderful rugs are by Kathy Henning, a featured artist at the show.
This colourful piece was designed and hooked by Fumiyo of Burlington, Ontario.
I loved this miniature Morris chair, a salesman’s sample, which Gail Duclos Lapierre inherited from her grandmother. As you can see the hand hooked upholstery, which Gail also tailored, is reversible.
The opening of the rug show was last night. What a show! I took photos as I wandered through and want to share some with you here. But, for sure, I will be back today and tomorrow. It is hard to see everything on your first visit. These are just a very few of the highlights on the first floor. There are two large floors full of rugs!
This People’s Choice Winner from 2011 was designed and hooked by Donna Hrkman of Dayton Ohio.
Solitude by Karen Miller of Ottawa Ontario.
This incredible tiger was designed and hooked by Ann Winterling, one of the featured artists.
Another of the featured artists was Liz Guth. The next two are hers, Ruby’s Cat and a geometric.
The last for this post is Alvin, by Kathleen Patten.
Thanksgiving is our weekend to close down the cottage for the winter. This weekend was cold — minus two overnight — but one of the most beautiful I can remember. Saturday we had a double rainbow, but I was a little late with the camera to catch the second.
But I did get up early enough for this.
And out in the kayak for this.
And along with thanksgiving and birthday celebrations I found time for the wedding rug. The gap is closing.
But the exciting creative achievement of the weekend was definitely this birthday present. My younger son, Owen, made his brother a surf board bag which zipped neatly around the top and had an optional zipper for the fin.
At the end of the weekend, the board was tucked into its new bag and all set for the trip home to Montreal.
Today was my day to volunteer at a local independent art gallery. I love this space — open, bright and full of wonderful pieces of art. I like to take my hooking because people are always interested — and it is a good chance for me to make some progress on the wedding rug. This morning I ‘turned the corner’ — actually the third corner, the corner with the wedding date.
I have loved working on this rug. Any one who saw it today commented that I am more than a year behind with my wedding gift. The fact is that I did not even begin this rug until last June — so yes I am late, but I am not taking forever. It will be done by 12 12 12, that magic date, or before.
I had planned to have Owen and Carissa’s names on the side of the rug, but I see now that there is not enough room. Once I get the row of bubbles and the border the area will be full. This side needs to balance roughly with the left side. A rug like this is organic, and as I have said before, you develop a relationship, rug and rug hooker, and all decisions are shared. There have been times at this stage in a rug where the rug and I were merely tolerating one another until the project was over. But my relationship with this rug has been a happy one, and one full of discovery. I have learned more about background, about colour and about design. And I will be even happier to see it on Owen and Carissa’s floor. They tell me that they have the spot waiting — so I’d better get back to the frame! I’ll post my progress after the weekend.
Carissa’s birthday is 12 12 12 this year–a special day–and I would like to have this rug done! I set a goal for the weekend’s hooking and I managed to get there. It helped that I was beside a window with a great view, listening to good music and good radio. Each of the circles in the wandering border is like its own little colour study. I would chose three primaries, or three shades or analgous colours or complementaries etc., a little challenge for myself. I guess I like to set challenges and play games as I am hooking; it keeps things interesting.
Still some decisions to make on the right-hand side of the rug, but mostly just more of the same. I am going to set a hooking schedule. It gets harder now, as I start to work with leather and sweaters. Am making some small colour therapy pouches, working my way up to some new bags. Need to get back into the groove. And mittens will be appearing soon too. I love the fall!
Meanwhile, tomorrow I will be making new screens for printing some of the new designs. Will be at Bookhou, one of my favourite places! I will try to take some pictures to show you.
I have been out of touch for a few days. The wedding rug and I were at the lake and it seems to be one of the few places left around here with no connection to the outside world. The cottage is four miles from the marina by boat–a distance which enhances the sense of isolation. Yes, there is a landline and a radio–but no cell coverage and no internet. It is blissful. This weekend, the fall colours were just beginning and the lake was at its most intense blue.
I spent some time in the kayak, read, but mostly I hooked and listened to the CBC. Michael Enright, my Sunday staple, had a great interview with David Carr which I recommend. I’ll post a picture of the developments in the rug soon–but meanwhile I just want to share the glories of Canada’s shield country.
The stunning New Brunswick landscape is echoed in Heidi Wulfraat’s marvellous studio. It was a pouring wet day when I visited, but inside the colours were vibrant and Heidi a total delight, so welcoming and engaging. The CBC was playing, there were irresistible piles of wool and fleece everywhere you looked and inspiring large hooked and felted pieces on the walls. Be sure to visit Heidi’s site or her FB page — I particularly loved her sketch book.
This is one of my favourites. 
And I have to show you the socks I got! These are recycled cotton ‘mismatched with care in Vermont”–great gifts.
At the end of the course, the class created our Colour Manifesto:
As you can see from the trees I began in the class, the interior and exterior landscapes were playing on my mind. The full pink moon, the sparkling trees and water, the fields of wild flowers and the wonderfully open and accepting atmosphere. I was reminded of Keri Smith’s manifesto in her new book How to Be an Explorer of the World. And what great reminders!
I have just returned from a trip to the east coast where I had a chance to absorb the light, the texture and the colours…
and then to participate in a fabulous workshop on colour at Deanne Fitzpatrick’s studio in Amherst Nova Scotia. The workshop combined theory — presented ably by Phyllis Cameron — and an intuitive, experiential, reflective approach led by Deanne.
We considered colour using all our senses–some experiences were delicious as well as beautiful! (Perhaps here I should also mention the locally roasted coffee and oat cakes always on hand in the studio kitchen.)
Deanne has expanded her shop and studio area since I last visited in 2006. The class was held in a lovely room adjacent to the store, a room with high ceilings, white walls and lots of natural light — a perfect spot for the fourteen students to spread out and hook while absorbing the presentations.
We explored colour as well as alternate fibres like sari silk and hand-dyed fleece and yarn. On the left, a snake comes into life and below a maple leaf bursts in full fall colours. To the right of the leaf is my frame with white pines of silk and yarn–my first landscape and my first hooking with hand-spun yarn. I loved it!
How wonderful to see Deanne’s ‘colour intuition’ up close in the shop. Below are two of her pieces. I’ll have more photos in the next post, as well as a glimpse into another wonderful studio I visited.
