Hooking

I am excited to tell you about the upcoming rug show in Belleville Ontario at Gallery 121. There will be a collection of the beautiful hand hooked mats and chair seats done by the women of Matangwe Kenya. Each piece reflects the world of rural Western Kenya and highlights the women’s unique sense of colour and design. Above is a chair seat depicting the mud huts, acacia tress and rolling hills. Below several more examples of the charmingly simple designs and stunning use of colour. The left thumbnail is the back of a chair seat–wax printed cotton from the Bondo market and the Matangwe label based  a drawing by one of the school children. All the pieces are hooked with found recycled cottons from the Bondo market and wool strips and old t-shirts donated by Ontario hookers. And it is all done without hooking frames or cutters. Marvellous!

The opening reception is Saturday September 19, 2-4 pm. The show runs from Tuesday September 15 until Saturday October 24, Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 until 4:00 pm. I hope you will be able to come to see this

I learned so much from the rug hookers in Matangwe. I learned about dignity and perseverance certainly, but I also learned about colour and design. I learned that it’s not about materials, having the best wool or the perfect colour, but about how you interpret your world using what you have. These hooked works have brought me to see Matangwe in a new way. Below are some pieces that stood out for me and the stories behind them.

Esther and Irene were new hookers this year. They walked two hours each way, five days a week, to get to the community centre for their hooking lessons. They were quiet and dignified and we exchanged only a few words. However, their work demonstrates a bold use of colour and shape that belies their shyness. These were their second pieces of hooking, ever. I love the energy in them and am intrigued by the way they see their world.

Tabitha arrived every day with her four month old daughter. A second year hooker, Tabitha produced more pieces than I was expecting anyone to make. She was resourceful, hardworking and creative. During the first week she completed the test assignments quickly, using materials from home. She then went on to make chair seats and table mats of her own design. Everyone loved the first piece below,hooked with wool and t-shirts,  and it sold quickly in Matangwe. Clearly it resonated with the people there. The following two pieces are of her own design as well, begun at home and finished using t-shirts, stockings and wool. The material seems to be a determining factor in the design–the last piece using stockings is finer and more whimsical that the other two which use a combination of wool and t-shirts.

And like Tabitha, Everlyne was on fire producing pieces of her own design. Here is a photo of her on the last day with yet another piece, done entirely with t-shirts. She has incorporated her own version of one of the local birds with design features she saw in Rug Hooking magazine.

I plan to make an inventory of all the pieces before our gallery exhibition in Belleville in September, so I will post more of the pieces here for you to see.

Jill commented on the last post that it must be ‘quite an adjustment returning’ to Canada after a month in Kenya. It is. And I will write more about my 5 days in Amsterdam after Kenya, a key part of the adjustment for me. For now, I have been mulling over the achievements of the 14 women who spent three weeks hooking and, in addition, their impact on me.

Above are pictures of our sale on the final day of the course. Employees at the local medical clinic and the local school came to admire and purchase. We sold several pieces. There were more pieces in addition to those pictured, including an order of six chair seats. This is a remarkable achievement for 14 women, half of whom had never hooked before.

A few words on the process:  I brought a large duffle bag full of donated linen, t-shirts and woollen strips. While in Nairobi, I was able to purchase 10 additional yards of burlap and some cotton jersey remnants from a t-shirt factory. After the second week, we went to the local market in Bondo and purchased a large bag of second-hand t-shirts, especially in the colours of sky and grass–we were running out of materials!

There were two classes, morning and afternoon. Everyone began hooking a small mat, either a flower or a heart, to establish standards both for hooking and for finishing. Everyone then went on to hook one of the local birds from a photo, tracing the image on to the backing, using the window as a light box. From there, once the first two pieces were completed to an acceptable standard, the rug hookers designed their own mats and chair cushions.  The experienced rug hookers–those who had hooked last year–took to the challenge quickly and some completed five or six pieces in the three weeks. And there were a few new rug hookers who completed wonderfully creative pieces, while others stayed with the original two pieces.

I loved sitting hooking with these women. Some sang quietly as they hooked, others chatted and laughed, but there was always an atmosphere of cooperation and achievement. As the time went on, they became more daring in their designs, drawing their interpretation of the world around them. I would often be surprised when one of the rug hookers would arrive with an almost completed piece which she had begun at home. Tomorrow I’ll write about what I learned about design and colour from these wonderful rug hookers.

Below, buying t-shirts at the Bondo market. Vendors often have their wares spread on the ground on a tarp. Bondo is a 7 km boda boda (motorcycle) ride on deeply rutted, dusty roads. Three adults and a couple of baskets on a boda boda is commonplace–and I am always relieved when we arrive safely.

Hello again from Kenya. I am in Kisumu with a great view of Lake Victoria from my balcony so I plan to sketch it soon. I hope to post some of my sketches of Matangwe and Kisumu later this week. But first rug hooking news.

We have now finished our second week of rug hooking. The pile of woollen worms has really shrunk and we have been to Bondo to shop for T shirts. We were expecially looking for the colours of grass and sky. I am thrilled with the work especially the larger mats and chair seats which they have drawn of local scenes.  I love the way they combine tshirts, wool and the occasional nylon stocing. Here are some samples of the work so far.

I’ve been hooking along with the women, using this piece to demonstrate technique.  But as you can see from the work above, they are very fast learners and have a wonderful sense of colour and design. They have been inspired by Rug Hooking magazine and the slides I’ve shown them, but these pieces all have a Matangwe lens.  It’s magic to watch these wonderful women translate their environment into hooking.