Category: education

July 20, 2020

Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop

High on Hooking is offering our first online workshop, Hooking With and Beyond the Wool. Thank you, Coronacootie. If you’re at all interested in experimenting with fibers that stand alone or that can mix it up with wool, this is the class for you.

HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND THE WOOL

Rug hooked with alternative fibers is an example of what you can make in the HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND WOOL workshop. — Hook your own mixed-fiber rug after taking the HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND THE WOOL workshop. (“Bohemian Snake” Rug; 6.5″x18″; Ultrasuede strips, silk strips, sari yarn, recycled t-shirt strips, wool yarn, velour strips.)

Get ready to experiment with new and different fibers in your rug hooking. Working on a “sampler” pattern, we’ll explore how different types of fibers hook up and how they “play” with wool and each other.

Early rug hooking was a make-do affair using feed bags, old clothes, and other “used” fabrics. Those pioneering hookers were practical to a fault and threw nothing away; they couldn’t afford to. Today that’s less of a problem for most rug hookers using both virgin and recycled wools. But why limit ourselves to just wool strips?

Hooking with materials other than wool allows us:

The chance to create new and different effects in our rug hooking;
To work with what we may already have in our homes;
To go back to the thrift store to source some of our fiber (now that quality wool’s often scarce there); and
To potentially do some good for the environment.

This class is designed for a student proficient at rug hooking basics, particularly the mechanics of pulling loops through a backing.

Because this is an online workshop, students will supply their own materials. You may draw up your own sampler pattern or enlarge one electronically supplied by teacher.

DETAILS

Class will run WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1:00 PM EDT.

This class will be held online through Zoom. Upon registration and payment, the Zoom link and password will be sent via email (after August 1).

Class will be limited to 10 people.

The class is ONE SESSION, approximately 2.5 HOURS in length.

The COST of this class is $30 US.

Student will supply:

Hooks;
Backing, preferably linen or monk’s cloth rather than rug warp;
A frame;
A variety of “alternative fibers,” list to be supplied upon registration; and
A mind and spirit open to experimenting.

For more information or to register, please email me at Laura@highonhooking.com.

Addendum: If you are interested in the workshop, but can’t make the date/time, contact me and we can set up a private class. Really, I’m stuck at home. I have the time. 

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Laura Salamy is the hooker behind High on Hooking.

I’ve never been a “traditional” hooker, preferring to color outside of hooking’s more “typical lines.” Instead of limiting myself to wool, I prefer to use most any material I can get my hands on. Often that means cutting strips from old t-shirts and bed sheets. Up-cycling throw-aways to art is a priority for me. Our landfills are filling up. Or they’re already full. While certain projects benefit from virgin wools or other fibers, I like to do my little part to slow that process and make something lovely at the same time.

Laura’s work has been seen in various exhibits as well as Rug Hooking Magazine; ATHA Art of Rug Hooking magazine; Karen Miller’s book Eyes Open to the World: Memories of Travel in Wool; and Judy Taylor’s T-Shirt Treasures: Creating Heirloom Hooked Rugs from the Humble T-Shirt. She currently serves as President of the Adobe Wool Art’s Guild, New Mexico’s only rug hooking guild.

Learn more about her work at https://highonhooking.com.

June 29, 2020

The Community Circle Project – Discuss

Example of one of Community Circles — EVERYONE HAS A STORY: LET THEM TELL IT. Circle by Sandy Coleman.

On Monday last I participated in a workshop* presented by Nasco Art Education featuring artist Sandy Coleman, creator of the The Community Circle Project. The Project and the class are all about connecting community in a way that allows for self expression. I’m sure you agree that these days we need both.

Sandy and I go back a number of years to when I was still living and hooking in Massachusetts. Members of a local artists’ group, we talked about collaborating on something. Later is better than never, yes?

By day, Sandy is the director of communications and the magazine editor at Wheaton College (Massachusetts). But she’s also an art teacher at the Attleboro Art Museum. Back in January, her Community Circle Project featured prominently in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee of Greater Attleboro’s MLK Jr. holiday programming. At an interfaith service entitled “Breaking through Bias: Accepting Our Differences,” guests were invited to create circles that eventually (when our Covid-19 crisis allows) will become part of a large-scale public display illustrating community and unity.

Artist and creator Sandy Coleman — Artist and Community Circle Project creator Sandy Coleman.

In Sandy’s own words:

I believe that art reminds us of our common humanity. Art invites us to tap into our innate creativity, to experience the process of bringing forth what is imagined into reality and to see what is good within ourselves so that we also can see what is good within others. This all, ideally, not only opens us up to hoping for the best for everyone and for the world, but also moves us to act to bring about good.

I believe that imagining what you want is the first step toward making it happen. All of this is at the heart of the founding of The Community Circle Project, which I created and launched in 2019.

The circle is a symbol of unity, wholeness, connection and inclusion. The Community Circle Project is an ongoing art collaboration and engagement that employs the symbol and the themes evoked as a creative focal point. I facilitate virtual and in-person workshops in which participants are invited to engage in artmaking as well as meaningful conversation. The goal is for us to see our commonalities, our shared humanity and desire for good in our lives, which, ideally, leads to wishing for good in the lives of others, our communities and the world.

Change happens in big and small ways. Each of us can play a role in that, including calling upon the power of creativity for relaxation, reflection and reaching out.

WE ARE POWERFUL TOGETHER. Another one of Sandy’s circles.

During the class, Sandy mentioned that she creates a circle each day, usually in the morning, based on a prompt which can be a statement or perhaps a question à la “what have you learned during the world lockdown? During the recent protests? What dreams do you hold for yourself? Your family? The world?” This journaling both relaxes and energizes her, grounding her for the day ahead.

Monday’s online workshop was primarily directed towards art educators for grades 4 and up. Hey, I teach rug hooking! Actually, I was there because, after Sandy invited my to join the Community Circle Project on Facebook, I saw a post that she was going to be presenting HOW the circles worked, how I could learn to draw them and participate in the project. Remember, Sandy came up with this Community Circle concept last year, well before the nation sat up and really took notice of our systemic racism, before some of us truly woke up and realized that our silence has been complicit. Although, as Sandy generously allowed, “Silence is complicated, not just complicit.” She herself has taken care and time to reflect on how she can add to the conversation. She is doing that through art.

Circle buy Sandy Coleman — KEEP THE DOOR OPEN. Another one of Sandy’s circles.

But this is art that’s meant to be shared. Art that can and should spark meaningful discussion. And we sure as hell have a discussion now. One we need to ensure keeps going thoughtfully. The Community Circle Project is a way to do just that. Through classrooms of kids, through community workshops, even through individual “circling.”

How many times do we have to be reminded that we have more in common than we don’t? That we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers?

Art gives us a way to reflect on and process the things going on in the world at large and in our own little part of it. How many people miss out on that because they say, “I’m not an artist!”? Everyone can trace a circle or even freehand it. (Another Sandy-ism: “Wonky is wonderful!”) I wish I’d been at the MLK Day service in Attleboro in January to see all the diverse circles that probably we’re actually pretty similar in spirit. Imagine the discussions that came up between parents and kids, between neighbors.

My circle — I CAN DO MORE TO BE UNIVERSAL. WHAT MATTERS MOST IS KINDNESS. Surprise! This is the circle I did during the workshop. Clearly, I don’t have the brevity thing down yet.

Let’s keep the conversation going!

Rug hookers and other artists, how about an old-fashioned challenge? Your circles don’t have to be hooked. We all know what it’s like to do letters. Feel free to draw them, if you prefer. Get your kids and grandkids involved.

For more details regarding the Project, contact Sandy at sandycoleman@communitycircleproject.com, through the contact form on the website, or via the Project’s Instagram and Facebook pages. Ask her about the project, how you can participate.

And please join The Community Circle Project on Facebook and Instagram. Share the circles; be part of the conversation.

*As mentioned, the workshop was produced by Nasco Art Education which provides regular “Monday Maker” presentations these days. Check them out!

October 21, 2019

Hook a Rug, Save the Planet – with Laura Salamy

Want to learn a new skill and recycle some old stuff at the same time? We’ll be doing just that in my workshop “Hook a Rug, Save the Planet.”

November 2, 2019
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Learn the basics of traditional rug hooking but with a twist – using old t-shirts, recycled wool strips, yarn, ribbon, and anything else you have in the house that you can pull a loop with. We’ll talk about “virgin” fibers, certainly, but we’ll do our part for the environment and save some money while we make something beautiful. During the class, you’ll learn how to:

• transfer a pattern onto a monk’s cloth backing;
• prepare your materials;
• begin hooking a mug rug and table “mat” or wall-hanging.

Laura Salamy will present "Hook a rug, Save the planet" workshop November 2. — Laura Salamy will present “Hook a Rug, Save the Planet” workshop November 2.

We’ll discuss various ways you might want to finish your rug after all the hooking is done. *No experience is necessary; just come prepared to play with color and textures!

Learn how to make a hooked rug in "Hook a rug, save the planet" workshop — Rug hooked using recycled t-shirts.

Material students should provide: good scissors and quilting hoop if you have one. If not EVFAC will provide a 12” hoop for use in this class (available for purchase)

Material instructor will provide: Monk’s cloth backing; hooks; rug binding; extra frames to try; thread/needles; hooking materials

Laura is an experienced, albeit “less-than-traditional” rug hooker who owns a business, High on Hooking (www.highonhooking.com), selling hooked items primarily in local shows and on Etsy. She’s lived in Albuquerque for over four years, leaving gray New England for the Southwest’s sunny, open skies. In 2018, she was elected President of the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG), New Mexico’s only rug hooking guild.

This class requires a minimum of three students.

Non-Member: $80 (Member $65)

Materials Fee: $15
Materials fee is paid at first class meeting.

Class will take place at Española Valley Fiber Arts Center in Española, NM.

For more info click here.

July 15, 2019

Join the punch needle rug hooking revolution Saturday at EVFAC

Example of punch needle rug hooking. — My second punched rug. Began at an Amy Oxford workshop at **Fletcher Farm School of Arts and Crafts** in Vermont years ago. Clearly finished in 2011.

If you’re a rug hooker on Instagram, you’ve seen the crazy increase in punch needle rug hooking posts. Like me, you probably marveled that, hey, some are calling the back the front and the front the back! Which is just fine as long as they’re having fun – the real point of this whole art/craft.

If you get Rug Hooking Magazine, you’ve seen that there are now regular articles on the punch needle universe and its concomitant projects. You’re no longer a second class hooker if you punch!

And if you’re at all familiar with punch needle goddess Amy Oxford, you know that her business sky-rocketed a couple of years ago:

Her business chugged along quite nicely, growing slowly and steadily. Then textile artist Arounna Khounnoraj, co-founder of Bookhou studio in Toronto, became a fan. “I like that her tool is ergonomic and that it’s quick and easy to thread,” says Khounnoraj. “Also, you can use both yarn and cut wool strips in the needles.”

Amy Oxford de-fuzzing a punched rug with…sheep shears! (2008)

When Khounnoraj posted an Instagram video demonstrating a project using an Oxford

Punch Needle, things exploded. The video went viral and Oxford began getting orders from all over the world.

“Sales were up 644%. This was thrilling and incredibly exciting. We sold out instantly. We made thousands more and sold out in 48 hours. Did the same and sold out a third time in 24 hours. I was in shock. I knew I was supposed to be happy but honestly, it was terrifying. Overwhelming is an understatement… We didn’t see this coming. When our punch went viral I promised myself that no matter how many orders we got, I wouldn’t skimp on quality to create more quantity.”

– Amy Oxford in Craft Industry Alliance article

(For the record: You can punch with more than yarn and wool strips. I’ve even punched with recycled t-shirt strips.)

Punched rug (hooked rug) — A punched rug in progress last spring.

To celebrate punch needle rug hooking and to further spread the rug hooking gospel, High on Hooking will be teaching an INTRODUCTION TO PUNCH NEEDLE RUG HOOKING workshop THIS SATURDAY at Española Valley Fiber Arts Center. Contact EVFAC to get in on the fun. (Just don’t call today, Monday, as they’re closed till tomorrow morning.)

During the class, students will:

transfer a pattern onto a monk’s cloth backing;
prepare materials; and
begin punching a mug rug, table “mat,” or wall-hanging.

We’ll use Oxford punch needles as several years ago, after teaching myself to punch using her tool (before she even owned her current rug hooking school), I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with Amy. Lastly, we’ll discuss various ways you might want to finish your rug after all the hooking is done. No experience is necessary; just come prepared to play!

Punch needle rug hooking example — This rug was based on a child’s design and punched using recycled t-shirt strips. Imagine how your child or grandchild would feel if you hooked a wall hanging or table-topper using one of their drawings. And think of how much linger it’ll last than paper!

For those unable to join us in Española Saturday, I offer rug hooking and punch needle rug hooking classes in my home in Albuquerque. If you live beyond our beautiful Sandia Mountains, please check out Amy’s excellent tutorial videos on her website. Most of all, have fun!

January 15, 2019

Good news! More work, but good news!

Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center — Española Valley Fiber Arts Center in…Española, New Mexico. A place filled with fiber. Visit and you’re sure to have a fiberific time. My rugs will spend February in the window on the left.

Good news! How often do we get to yell that? Actually, it’s news I wasn’t ready to share last week, but after hanging out at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center (EVFAC) for awhile today (and shopping, of course), I can reveal: I’m the center’s “Artist of the Month” in February. Yes, really!

The “Artist” will have their fiber creations filling up one of the big windows at the front of the building. And available for sale. EVFAC’s just starting the new program this year. They announced it in the January newsletter and asked members to apply. On a lark, I did just that. I mentioned though, because I vend during much of the year, a winter month would be good. They got back to me right quick and offered February. Woohoo!

Yes, I accepted.

Dyed wool yarn. — Need colorful wool yarns? EVFAC’s your place.

Today the High on Hooking helpers – Tom and Tynan – and I took the hour-and-a-half drive up to Española (a half-hour north of Santa Fe) so that I could talk logistics. Then…they asked me to teach an introductory class during the month. And give a little talk. Alrighty! It actually won’t be the first class I’ve taught there. A talk though…

So, that’s my good news. If you’re local and have thought that maybe you’d like to give rug hooking a whirl, this is a great opportunity. The class will be Saturday, February 16, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. We’ll lunch at the table while we hook. After that, we’ll talk more hooking. We’ll have plenty to chat about as it’s still not that well known in these parts – the Southwest – where weaving traditionally dominates. But we’re making great strides, people!

Do you have any good news? 2019 is starting strong here at High on Hooking, and I already have a l-o-n-g queue of rugs just waiting to be hooked. (Truthfully, this is somewhat daunting…) It will be the year of many rugs. And many rug events. Share yours here!

Dog on hooked rug — Tynan’s providing your last look at the ENTIRE **“Big Boucherouite”** until it’s done. No worries, I’ll still share bits and pieces each week and on **Instagram**/**Facebook**. Let me tell you how heavy it’s getting! BTW, isn’t Tynan looking handsome with his new haircut?