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WILL RUG HOOKING SURVIVE?

The other day  I read an email sent to reps on the Education Committee of the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council regarding the potential of online education and the purposes of today’s guilds. This is something my own guild regularly discusses.

I ask because the answers might drive our educational goals in different directions.  And perhaps show us a source of inspiration to promote the continuation of the arts we all love. 
-Kathy Jackson

Earlier in the week and given current events, Beth Miller of Parris House Wool Works started a discussion on her business Facebook page. I urge you to go to her page and read the comments.

Why do we see so few BIPOC and LGBTQ people in rug hooking? Other textile arts are starting to increase in diversity, but I don’t think we are seeing that in rug hooking. Why is that?
For that matter, why are we seeing so few people under 40, or even under 50, hooking rugs? Or men?
What would it take to attract more people to rug hooking?
This is not rhetorical or academic. This is existential.
If rug hooking does not become inclusive, starting with young people, people of color, LGBTQ people, no one will be talking about rug hooking at all in a short fifty years.
-Beth Miller

I just turned 56 and am the youngest person, I believe, in my guild. This is not an anomaly among ATHA guilds. We’re aging. All you had to do was look around at last year’s Biennial in Denver to see that.

On the subject of ATHA guilds, I was amazed to read in Beth’s comments that some guilds aren’t even accepting members any more. WTF?

I also have it on pretty good authority that the circulation of Rug Hooking Magazine has been declining for the last number of years.

So what are we to do if we want to ensure that this tradition sticks around for another 200 years?

Personally, I’m really impressed by the buzz that is punch needle rug hooking these last few years.Those mostly young mostly ladies are all over Instagram, the current social media of choice, especially for artists. They’ve got online and in-shop classes going. They’ve got rock star celebrities like Arounna Khounnoraj of BOOKHOU and Rose Pearlman. No, I don’t necessarily care for all of their designs; in fact, I find many of them simplistic, but perhaps that’s what it takes to get the “youngsters” to sign up and learn the skill. All art and artists evolve with time, and they’re just starting.

Traditional rug hookers are on Instagram too, but, frankly, it’s not the same. We sometimes lack…the panache. Our projects can seem almost…fuddy duddy, I’m sorry to say. Not that there’s anything wrong with primitive rugs or traditional patterns, but, let’s be honest, is a finely shaded rose – and especially all the “rules” that go with that finely shaded rose – going to draw the attention of a typical 28 or 38-year old who’s got a full time job and maybe a baby taking up her time? What we have to do is show EVERYTHING that rug hooking can be, that is has the potential to be a rose and a 3-D sculpture à la Liz Alpert Fay or Rachelle LeBlanc.

In reading the responses to Beth’s questions and thoughts above, a few things stand out.

DIVERSITY
I don’t have to tell you that this is a HUGE topic today. And I mean this very day in June, 2020, not something theoretical. And society is hopefully starting to examine how a lack of diversity and acceptance pervades almost everything making up our society. I don’t feel qualified at the moment to pontificate on how we can draw other groups into our very white, older woman rug hooking demographic. And BTW, I am not apologizing for being a white, middle-aged rug hooker. But any group can grow staid after a hundred years or so. Change is good. Fresh ideas and perspectives are to be welcomed. Again, it’s about evolution.

TIME
A number of folks mentioned how the “young” are busy with: school; jobs and career-building; families and all they entail; and so on. Yes, this is undeniable. I started hooking when my kid was around seven years old. I was working part time as an environmental manager in a manufacturing plant. I was busy too. But I also knew that I wanted to create. Something. Rug hooking was something I could do in the evening when I watched television after the kid was in bed. And I wasn’t on a schedule. If a rug took a year, it took a year. Canadian hooker Karen Miller spoke about this just yesterday on Instagram and Facebook. She’s got a couple of kids, a fiber art business, and writes books! If something appeals enough to an individual, they will make the time for it. Ask Amy Oxford; she sells a lot of punch needles to people like me who are teaching beginners. Again, how do we make rug hooking appealing enough to gain more of our own beginners?

EXPENSE
This is a big one. And it certainly appears that rug hooking is an expensive sport what with the hand-dyed wool, the linen, the cutters, the patterns, the workshops and teachers. I’m sure I missed something. Here’s the thing, though, that’s just bullshit. The Canadian and New England ladies back in the 1800s didn’t have all those things, did they?

I learned how to hook in a community education class maybe 15 years ago. I did have to pay for that and a kit. The experience cost maybe $100. But I knew virtually nothing about hooking. Nor did I know anyone to teach me.

When my class ended, the teacher didn’t offer any additional lessons or mention a guild or anything. She did suggest a quilter’s hoop for finishing the project. Beyond that I was on my own. Thank goodness for the Internet, used books from Amazon, and Rug Hooking Magazine. With those resources I learned that:

  • I could get monk’s cloth for a lot cheaper than linen. (And no one talk to me about hating monk’s cloth and how it “stretches.” I learned on it and have always loved it. Pull in the opposite direction and it’s good as new.)
  • About rug yarn and punching, which I learned on my own. (Caveat: a few years later I took a class with Amy.);
  • How to draw a pattern;
  • How to finish a rug; and
  • Any number of tips which all you ladies have generously shared over the years especially as rug hooking groups proliferated on Facebook.

For years I used the student hook that came with my initial kit. My husband repaired that quilter’s hoop a few times when I over-tightened it. Once it was apparent I was in rug hooking for the long haul, he bought me a Puritan frame for Christmas. I still use it. I didn’t get a cutter until a couple of years ago; it was a guild hand-me-down that I purchased for less than $100.

Having no real rug hooking shop anywhere near me, I initially used wool yarn I found in a local shop. It was pretty thin. Sorry, I’m not good at yarn nomenclature. It took a really long time to hook up the two mats I made with that stuff. Later I bought old wool suit jackets from the thrift store. When I realized that it often wasn’t good wool, I came up with the idea of hooking with recycled t-shirts. They were plentiful, cheap, and came in lots of colors. Silk bouses and scarves and then bedsheets followed. If you can make a strip out of it, you can hook it. And don’t forget the yarn. To this day, so called “alternative fibers” make up the bulk of my work. And I get them at Savers or as gifts from folks looking to unload stuff.

I will admit that when I finally found a guild that sprouted up near me, I had a hard time. Or shall I say they had a hard time with me and my t-shirt rugs. I didn’t feel particularly welcome, though I’m sure some of the problem was my own sense of not fitting in and even inadequacy. I don’t know what it is about Albuquerque, but when I moved and  joined the Adobe Wool Arts Guild, I knew I was home. (See last week’s post.) They might not have wanted to hook with bed sheets, but they thought my rugs were pretty cool. I felt welcome.

During non-Covid years I teach a class to beginners called “Hook a Rug, Save the Environment.” It’s pretty much always filled with ladies who have never hooked and, therefore, have no pre-concieved ideas about beautiful wool or rug hooking rules. BTW, I am not a certified McGown teacher. I have nothing against them; hey, we have four or five in our guild! There’s room for all of us. My career in environmental management was all about rules and regulations. Rug hooking is where I can let it all out, do whatever I want. It’s art and it’s personal. There are no wrong answers. I am the boss of my rug, as we say in our guild.

The punch hookers have grabbed onto that idea and run with it. They use whatever yarn they want. No one cares if it’s acrylic or wool. They keep their pieces small to fit within a hoop or whatever they use to hold the piece; no cumbersome moving of the rug on a frame. Many of them see the back of the rug as the front! (The loops are on the back.) Or, better, they switch it all up and have flat and loops on the front! Sure, I think that loops on the back is a waste of yarn, but who cares? They are the bosses of their rugs. They’re having a great time, and their rugs are new and different.

So, how do we as the “old guard” re-excite our sisterhood (and our brothers) enough so that we can share this marvelous art with the “youngsters”? It’s gonna take technology, I fear. Damn, I’m still not all that excited by Zoom. When “they” let us, we need to get out into our communities and do a lot of demonstrations. And leave the expensive equipment at home. I’m not saying we should all start using bent nails instead of hooks, but maybe have some hoops and burlap or monk’s cloth on hand to let a kid try pulling some Lion brand bulky acrylic yarn. Most get it pretty quickly.

I’ll close my rant with something that the editor of Rug Hooking Magazine wrote in the March/April/May,1993 issue:

I hope the new people we introduce to rug hooking will find in it a totally fascinating art. Let us be welcome to newcomers. Let us teach beginners patiently. …Let us encourage and inspire.

We need new people in rug hooking. …I hope we find many of them. Please welcome them with all your talented, warm and wonderful hearts…
-Mary Ellen Cooper

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What’s on the frames this week

 

What's on the frames beside the Big Boucherouite and Tynan?
Tynan presents one of the “rugs on the frame” this week. As you can see, I managed to get around the whole perimeter of the “Big Boucherouite.” Woohoo! Unfortunately, it has to take a back seat to the rug below. But I’m getting more excited the farther I get with it. Soon color!

Sure, “what’s on the frames this week,” but more like “what’s not happening this week?” Too much stuff is breaking as I get ready to take my first vacation with Tom for the first time in, like, 10 or 11 years! And it’s a good vacation, made more special because it’s the year of our 25th wedding anniversary (long gone by back in January). But more on that another time.

Just take in all these things I have to get done this week :

 

What's on the frames? A new "Woof" rug.
Look familiar? Yep, it’ll be an almost-clone of “Woof.” A lady saw the original in my Etsy shop but didn’t want the OD green background that I hooked in. She prefers a blue-based background. Perfect for last week’s Fourth of July holiday judging by the great pic of her pups that she sent. All SIX! were decked out in red, white, and blue and had American flags. Gotta love the dogs!

 

I won’t bother you any with any more specifics, but I’ll show you the other rug that’s on the frame this week. How’s your summer going? Busy???

 

 

 

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When you finally meet a rug-hooking Facebook friend

Facebook friends
Me with Amy Buesing, former Facebook friend and now just…friend at the Albuquerque Recycled Art Fair last weekend.

 

So, Saturday dawned bright and COLD – about 35 degrees. At least the windstorm had passed.(If you’re from New Mexico, you know that spring goes by another name here: wind.) Tom and I toodled down the road a couple of miles to Albuquerque’s Open Space Visitors’ Center to participate in the Recycled Art Fair.

Got the tent up and all the rugs and such in place by 10:00’s opening. People were already showing up looking to score good stuff made from other folks’ waste. Music was playing. It was gonna be a great weekend. Certainly better than last year when it snowed and rained and winded the first day. All I had to do was wait for the customers to come to me.

And they did. To see what I was working on. I like to hook when I do shows. For one thing, it draws people in either to 1) figure out what the hell I’m doing or 2) tell me a story how they (or their mother/father/grandparent) used to hook. And, of course, there are the latch hook tales, but we’ll skip over that today. Fortunately, I love to chat up folks and to spread the hooking gospel, so no problem there.

Hooked rug for Facebook friend
The mug rug Amy purchased. In reality, being a double mug rug, it comes with two of those mugs.

The problem was that no one was buying.

And then, suddenly, none of that mattered. A woman approached my tent; I was in my camp chair working away muttering trash talk about people who weren’t buying my trash-to-treasures. She says, “Laura?” I respond affirmatively, pleasantly even, because I have to I’m that kind of person. And then she tells me who she is: Amy Buesing of Las Cruces!

If you don’t know Amy, and I know many of you do, she’s a member of my guild but can’t make the monthly meetings given the five-hour drive between Albuquerque and Las Cruces. I’m pretty sure that she and I became Facebook friends before I left Massachusetts and even knew there was such a thing as the Adobe Wool Arts Guild. We bonded over family matters and such. Last October she and Mary Ramsey, our guild president, roomed together at the ATHA Biennial. Neither had met the other, but hookers are game for that kind of thing. Mary told me that Amy and I would hit it off when we finally met.

Here’s the thing, I thought that would be in September when Sharon Smith of Off the Wool Rugs comes to give a workshop. But Amy surprised me. She was in town and, knowing that I had a show, she made time before driving home to come meet me. I was touched. So touched

mug rug
Duh! One of the two mugs that actually got wrapped up and went home with Amy. Fortunately, it’s easy to find a mug to go with this rug. Undoubtedly, I already have one on the shelf.

and discombobulated that, when she bought one of my rugs, I 1) almost didn’t give her her $10 of change and 2) sent her home with a mug that didn’t match the double mug rug that she bought. Duh! I’ll get the right one out to you later this week, Amy!

Not only did I get to chat with Amy and her friend/travel buddy Michele, but she must’ve brought some good luck for me too. I managed to sell a few rugs the next day, including the sunflower table runner/wall-hanging I just finished. And then I was invited by the fair’s organizers to participate in their Cinco de Mayo Folk Art Fest on May 5 here in town. Woohoo! And all because of Amy. Cathy Kelly, also of AWAG and general hooking fame, will be doing that one with me. Come visit us!

Have you met any Facebook folks years after friending them? Heaven or a horror story?

Dog on hooked rug.
Tynan’s back with “What’s on the frame today.” It’s being hooked out of mostly bed sheets. Not that he cares. He just wanted the treat I was holding. Have to get this one done so that I can remake the sunflower rug.
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It’s been all about organizing

It was finally time; organizing had to occur. Welcome to the closet that Laura and High on Hooking now share.
It was finally time; organizing had to occur. Welcome to the closet that Laura and High on Hooking now share.

If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that I’m energized going into 2016. I’m in a new house in a new town. I’ve been cleaning it up, clearing out the final moving boxes, and organizing. I’m looking for a job in Albuquerque. A resume or two have actually gone out. (Will let you know if anything comes of them.)

Like I said, the honeymoon is over, and I’m embracing life in New Mexico. Even if it’s cold. (At least the sun came back. Yea!)

I'm feeling so much better now that everything has a place.
I’m feeling so much better now that everything has a place. Although it’s quite the climb up to the top when I need RED (hidden in the green basket).

 

One area where I was dragging involved both my closet and all my hooking gear. The latter includes, but is not limited to: a small wool stash; a considerable t-shirt stash; magazines; twill tapes and other ancillary materials; felting “stuff”; pads, rulers, and other art items; sewing and other sundries. Stuff, in other words. A fair amount of it.

Maybe I was psychologically resisting making the final transition to the new house. But I have this utterly fabulous walk-in closet, and because we elected Tom to be lord of the very nice and very large office, I got that closet. It’s a fair trade. I can still keep a small desk and bookshelves in the office, but because it’s so very public given the home’s open concept, it was never going to make it as a studio/hooking containment zone.

Don't those little shelves look like they were made for my hooking needs?
Don’t those little shelves look like they were made for my hooking needs?

 

 

Anyhow, for whatever reason, I hadn’t gotten around to organizing High on Hooking’s real estate. Last weekend, I finally went there. And I’m damned glad I did. You can see the results yourselves. The closet has shelving perfect for most of my bins and baskets. (I tend to organize by color.) I picked up the little metal shelves at Lowes; they fit perfectly under my shirts and sweaters. Sweet!

Then I turned my attention to the laundry room off the closet. Oh, I did forget to mention the laundry room? It’s much better than my old one. (It didn’t figure into the office-closet negotiations because I perform a family service in there. And I let Tom store the light bulbs in the the cabinets. On one shelf.)

Everyone needs a laundry room like this one. Isn't that counter the best?
Everyone needs a laundry room like this one. Isn’t that counter the best?

The best part of the laundry room is the counter. At almost six-and-a-half feet, it’s awesome! The bins under it contain GREEN, BLUE, and GRAY/BLACK plus my laundry basket. I ran out of bookshelf space in the office (a topic for another day), but you can see that my Rug Hooking, ATHA, and Fiber Art Now magazines found a perfect home atop the counter there along the back corner. And I still have room to fold laundry!

Now that the organizing is done, it’s back to the job search. Although the new rug on the frame is calling.,,

A tease. This is the beginning of the rug that will, hopefully, find a place in the Albuquerque Fiber Art Council's April show.
A tease. This is the beginning of the rug that will, hopefully, find a place in the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council’s April show.

Are you one of the lucky ones with a whole room or perhaps a cozy, little building devoted to your hooking endeavors? If not, how do you deal with your hooking stuff? A corner? Spread throughout the house? Either way, please share pics below.

 

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Guild work: Demonstrating hooking to the uninitiated

Welcome and come on in for a fabulous rug hooking demonstration!
Welcome and come on in for a fabulous rug hooking demonstration at the BioPark!

I finally remembered to 1) bring my phone to a guild event and 2) take some pics to share. I’m patting myself on the back as it’s taken me four tries to do this. (It must be menopause; there have been far too many ditzy doings lately.)

As I’ve mentioned before, the first Tuesday of the month brings guild members to Albuquerque’s BioPark, the Botanic Garden, specifically, to recruit new individuals to our cult to the craft/art (a distinction for another time) of rug hooking. This was my second time participating. Not that it was without surprises.

Fall at the the Farmhouse at Albuquerque's BioPark - Botanical Gardens.
Fall at the the Farmhouse at Albuquerque’s BioPark – Botanic Gardens.

Because I needed to pick up an official demonstrator badge from the office of education (who’d done a background check on all my previous lives), I arrived a few minutes early. Checking the guild’s folder, I ascertained that I was the first to arrive. I thought I’d be a good doobie and grab the attendance/feedback form and signage indicating to the public that TODAY YOU HAVE THE WONDERFUL CHANCE TO LEARN ALL ABOUT RUG HOOKING!. No problem there. Being all official-like, I headed back to the car to drive down the EMPLOYEE ONLY road to the reproduction farmhouse where they’ve parked us. Yes, I am that important now.

Info on the "olden days" in New Mexico.
Info on the “olden days” in New Mexico, the 1920s and 30s.

Again, no issues. No one stopped me or even gave me the opportunity to flash my badge. Secretly I was a little letdown by that. Anyway, no one was in the house when I got there. I found an actual worker with a key to open the back room then retrieved chairs and the hooking paraphernalia we keep there. You know, copies of Rug Hooking Magazine,  a hoop with some backing for people brave enough to try their hand at hooking, some wool, and a cutter. Oh, and another sign to post on the porch just in case folks missed the first one when they arrived at the park.

Linda (right) and Nancy, fellow Adobe Wool Arts guild members.
Linda (right) and Nancy, fellow Adobe Wool Arts guild members.

I sat down and waited for the others to show. I hooked some. I said hello to a few brave souls who really were just looking for the restroom. Had a discussion with a woman who thought hooking might be a perfect way to relieve some of the repetitive motion problems she’s having crocheting all the time. We would’ve chatted longer, but her daughter got antsy. I might add that her toddler granddaughter was perfectly fine. Maybe the daughter needs to learn a craft, if only to slow down and appreciate a lovely fall day at the park. But I digress. Anyway, they toddled off leaving me alone once more, fearful that the busload of kids I saw on my way in might descend on me en masse. I imagined fingers in cutters and pre-teen sneakers on the table runner I was just finishing up. And then…

Two of Nancy's mats. She's doing one for each season.
Two of Nancy’s mats. She’s doing one for each season.

 

The cavalry arrived. Okay, maybe not the cavalry, but Nancy and Linda, two fellow guild members. Hurray! I wouldn’t have to spend the four hours talking to myself or hiding from adolescent hoards. (Yeah, no field trip groups ever showed.) Linda actually showed up with a wannabe, a woman who’d seen our demo in the BioPark’s calendar. Very cool. She hung with us most of the day, asked a lot of questions, tried out my hook, read the magazines, and is thinking seriously about buying a kit to give it all a try. Clearly, our work in the BioPark was done. For this month.

Tell us about your experiences demonstrating hooking. Maybe it was at a special event or during an arts/craft fair where you were vending. How many stories have you heard from folks reminiscing about grandparents or mothers who hooked? Do you let them try their hand at it? How about the people who “remember” doing the same thing as a kid when they were really latch-hooking? My personal favorite was the woman who told me she used to hook, yet clearly had no knowledge of it. She went on to suggest that I elasticize a round rug and call it a toilet seat cover. Thanks lady! Got a tale like that? Tell us in the comments below..

One of Nancy's traditional hooked rugs and my not-so-traditional table runner. We try to show people that there are no rules in this art; no limits, other than the ones we impose on ourselves.
One of Nancy’s traditional, wool hooked rugs and my not-so-traditional table runner made of t-shirts and crepey fabrics. We try to show people that there are no rules in this art; no limits other than the ones we impose on ourselves.
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