Category: fiber arts

February 22, 2021

IN THE STUDIO – March 3 with Anastasia Tiller

Join Textile Artist Anastasia Tiller as she discusses

her work and process on ‘In the Studio’!

Poster for Anastasia Tiller event

Anastasia Tiller is a multidisciplinary artist based in Lethbridge, Newfoundland and Labrador. Her work ranges from monochromatic figurative referencing photographic imagery, gestural flat acrylic works on paper, and colourful landscapes. Her textile works move in a different direction altogether. Anastasia is actively involved in the provincial visual arts community as an art teacher, as well as a member of the Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador Board of Directors.

You can learn more about Anastasia and see her work at anastasiatiller.wixsite.com/anastasiatiller and on Instagram @frozenpartridgeberry.

Anastasia also has an upcoming exhibit, “Room for Happiness” or “Welcome to my Bubble” at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador in St. John’s Newfoundland from March-April, 2021.

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ:

The Zoom link for this presentation will be emailed to you the day before the talk (or after you purchase your ticket, if you purchase on the day of the event). If you don’t receive it, you can contact the organizer at info@karendmillerstudio.com.

Tickets will be on sale until 10:00 am the day of the event. After that time you will no longer be able to purchase tickets.

Please note that the time of the talk is 1:00 pm EASTERN.

Find tickets for this event at Ticketscene.

FAQ’s

* Will this talk be recorded for viewing later?

Unfortunately, no. Due to the logistics involved, we decided some time ago to keep these events live. Hopefully if you can’t make it to this talk, you’ll be able to make it to a future talk.

* It’s the day of the talk and I’m having trouble finding or using the link for the talk. How can I find help?

It is very advisable to LOG INTO THE EVENT A FEW MINUTES EARLY to be sure that you have no trouble with the link, and if you are having trouble the organizer can help you out. You can email or message the event organizer up until 12:30pm Eastern on the day of the talk for help. ONCE THE EVENT STARTS, however, messages and emails are not able to be monitored.

* I’m finding it distracting during the talk seeing all of the other participants on my screen. What can I do?

During the event the organizer will put the screen setting on “spotlight view” so that the presenter is the focus on your screen. Depending on your device, you may still see audience members on your screen and changing your setting from “gallery view” to “speaker view” should help with that.

February 13, 2021

Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop – March 20

Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop running again.

Interested in hooking with things you can find in your home? Want to try fibers other than or in addition to wool? Maybe help the environment a little? Then join High on Hooking for an online workshop in March. Information is below. Note that the class is limited to 10.

HOOKING WITH AND BEYOND THE WOOL – Online Workshop

hooked rug like will hook in Hooking With and Beyond the Wool Workshop — “Journey” (hooked with old bed sheets and t-shirts)

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 Saturday, March 20, 1:00 PM Eastern.

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

Class will be limited to 10 people.

The class is ONE SESSION, approximately 2.5-3 HOURS in length.

The COST of this class is $45 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.

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.

February 1, 2021

A rug influenced by another artist

Hooked art influenced by another artist — I’m calling it “Pat’s Rug” for now. It was influenced by another artist, my aunt.

I’ve finally finished the rug that my aunt, another artist, last year asked me to hook for her. She gave me no guidelines other than that she likes reds, blues, and gold. What to do? Pat works in paint, pens, and pencils and such. More abstract stuff. Fortunately, I’ve got a few of her pieces, so I thought, why not go to a source, her own work.

Work by another artist — Artwork by Pat Croke, my aunt.

Will she be able to tell that I used her drawing to inform my hooked art? Hell, if I know. I’ll tell her though. (And about the African bark cloth influence as well.) Lines and colors. Being a textile piece, though, I get the benefit of texture too: loops of old t-shirts and the sparkly sharpness of the two gold ribbon types that I used.

Close-up of the rug that currently has no name. Hand-hooked with old t-shirts and ribbon.

I just hope she likes it.

January 25, 2021

IN THE STUDIO – February 17 with Monika Kinner

Monika Kinner leads us through her art journey.

Monika Kinner event poster

Monika Kinner is a professional artist specializing in freestyle embroidery (since 2009) and soft pastel paintings (since 2018). More recently, she has started experimenting with saori weaving. Her creations are expressions of love for the prairie where she lives and originate from her own personal photographs of and experiences in Saskatchewan, Canada. She is constantly amazed at the texture and intricate beauty that can be achieved by working with threads and other fibres.

About Monika Kinner:

Monika is a juried member of the Saskatchewan Craft Council and a former member of the Embroiderers’ Association of Canada. Her award winning work is cherished in private collections around the world including Canada, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Western and Eastern Europe and South America.

You can learn more about Monika and see her work at www.mysweetprairie.ca and on Instagram @monika_kinner (her textile work) or @monika_kinner_painting_pastel_ (her pastel work).

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ:

Tickets will be on sale until 10:00 a.m. the day of the event. After that time you will no longer be able to purchase tickets.

Find tickets for this event at Ticketscene.

FAQ’s

* Will this talk be recorded for viewing later?

Unfortunately, no. Due to the logistics involved, we decided some time ago to keep these events live. Hopefully if you can’t make it to this talk, you’ll be able to make it to a future talk.

* It’s the day of the talk and I’m having trouble finding or using the link for the talk. How can I find help?

* I’m finding it distracting during the talk seeing all of the other participants on my screen. What can I do?

January 19, 2021

The Violet Protest – Will you help?

A few folks who follow High on Hooking’s Instagram account, got a peek at my offering to The Violet Protest last week. Today I packaged my 8″ x 8″ square up and mailed it off to Phoenix where it will be part of an exhibit and then sent on to lawmakers in Washington.

For those in the dark who have never heard of the Violet Protest, it’s a project that was conceived of by Ann Morton, a textile artist, educator, and “social practitioner” in Phoenix, Arizona.

“Driven by a desire to make right, the work she does reflects her own handwork, but also orchestrates handwork of interested community members through public interventions that seek to socially engage the hands of many to harness the power of making for social purpose.”

Textile artists across the country have been asked to make these 8″x8″ squares using whatever techniques they wish. My M.O., of course, is hooking. I might have used crochet or embroidery as well, but I opted to commit to only one square (knowing the project and teaching backlog that I’m already juggling). The squares are to be made using pretty much equal parts blue and red. As you know, BLUE + RED = VIOLET/PURPLE. The point is to create an “overall presentation of violet in the final display” of all the squares made.

Small hooked rug for the Violet Protest — My hooked square of wool strips and yarn and recycled silk blouse strips.

“The Violet Protest is a public effort to send 50 hand-made textile squares to each and every member of Congress
in support of these core American values:

•Respect for the other •Citizenship •Compromise •Country over party and corporate influence
•Courage •Candor •Compassion •Creativity

Whether we weave, knit, crochet, quilt, or embroider all 26,750 of these squares — through this social action, and from every corner of America; we as makers of all political persuasions, believe we can employ our willing spirit and our talents to contribute to healing divisions that threaten our country. This collection of textile squares will be first displayed at Phoenix Art Museum, in the Spring of 2021, before they are sent to the new
117th Congress by late 2021.

Focused on the values we hold dear as Americans, rather than any political beliefs, the color violet symbolizes the literal combination of red and blue, long held as symbols of our nation’s differing ideologies. Our common goal is to send a physical message of friendly protest through this colossal visual expression to demonstrate that if we as citizens are willing to come together, so then must our elected officials.”

There’s still plenty of time for you to get involved with this project. In fact, Ann could use a lot more squares, all total 26,750! Maybe your rug queue isn’t as long as mine is, and you’re looking for away to resist the winter doldrums. These squares hardly take any time to hook…or crochet…or sew…or whatever. While there is a February 1 deadline for squares to be exhibited in the Phoenix Art Museum, you’ve got plenty of time – till August 1! – to get some to Ann to be sent to members of Congress later in 2021. I’m hoping that I might be able to do some more once High on Hooking’s rug obligations are fulfilled.

Getting involved in the Violet Protest is easy, really. Ann mails out a tag to you. You attach it to your square(s) and mail it all back. Done! For more info click HERE. You can see examples of squares on the Violet Protest Instagram page.

In other news, we had another fine Zoom gathering last Saturday for the Build a Baby Boucherouite workshop. There were five of us. If you’re interested in the class, please contact me. I will say that this is one that works better and is more fun with the energy of a small group of folks working together and bringing all kinds of ideas. If you think your guild or a klatch of friends might want to get together to explore hooking some BBs, give a yell.

A reminder, that there are a few more spaces left in In the Studio’s WORKSHOP WEEK 2. I believe that Karen Miller, Beth Miller, and Meryl Cook have a couple of “seats.” Contact them directly. (To do that follow the WW2 link above) I have some more room in my second Intro to Punch Needle Rug Hooking session on February 20. Let me know if you’d like to be join us.

Dogs with hooked rug. — Tynan and Bowyn bring you this week’s “What’s on the frame.” (Mostly because they want the Beggin’ Strips BAD.)

And lastly, Tynan and Bowyn bring you “What’s on the frame” this week. If you remember, they showed what this rug looked like when I started hooking it back in December. It’s almost done. Hope my aunt likes it. It was inspired by her color choices and a drawing she made. More on that when I finish it. Till then, be warm and stay safe. May our Covid vaccine shot(s) happen soon!

Might you be able to make a square for THE VIOLET PROTEST?