Category: inspiration

March 21, 2022

Of Cinco de Mayo (and margaritas)

Cinco de Mayo Folk Art Fest poster So, because Cinco de Mayo is on a Thursday this year (and my neighborhood Bunco night to boot), here at High on Hooking we’ll be celebrating the Sunday before, May 1. Not only will Tom make some of his FAMOUS MARGARITAS for our gustatory pleasure, pal Catherine Kelly and I will first break out the tent and mark our first show of 2022: the CINCO DE MAYO FOLK ART FEST at La Parada and Farm&Table in Albuquerque’s North Valley. Think artisans, food, beverages, music, pinatas that you decorate yourself – in other words, a party! Or a fiesta, as we call it here. We hope that local peeps can come celebrate* with us!

Hooked art available at Cinco de Mayo Folk Art Fest — NOVA will be at the Cinco de Mayo Folk Art Fest. Will you? (10″x9″; hooked with wool strips, recycled silk sari yarns, old t-shirts, wool yarn, and old ribbons.

*As usual, if you mention High on Hooking’s blog post, take 10% off HoH’s prices.

February 28, 2022

Workshop, workshop, workshop! And more…

We’re in workshop heaven here at High on Hooking. Let me explain.

Boucherouite inspired hooked rug — Your Boucherouite will be your own pattern. It can be small just to try it all out in the workshop or as large as you’d like. (Original design.)

MARCH 12: BUILD A BABY BOUCHEROUITE

Because of interest during Workshop Week 4, we added another session for those who couldn’t make it in January. (The class was getting a little large too.) If you’re interested and available on Saturday, March 12, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, give me a yell. We’re at six right now, so there’s a little more room. For info about the class, see HERE. (Also, watch for coming announcements regarding Workshop Weeks 5 and 6!)

APRIL 15: INTRODUCTION TO PUNCH NEEDLE RUG HOOKING

Albuquerque’s BIG, BIENNIAL FIBER ARTS FIESTA, postponed from last year, will be open for business Thursday – Saturday, April 14-15. There’s a superb line-up of classes including my own punch needle workshop on Friday at 10:00 a.m. It is in person, and you’ll need to be vaccinated, but masks will be optional at this point. Yay! You can contact me here or see WORKSHOPS LISTING.

JUNE 19-25: HOOK RUGS, SAVE THE PLANET

This is a week-long residency workshop in Sewanee, Tennessee, as part of the SHAKERAG WORKSHOPS. We’ll be doing

Rug hooked with reclaimed textiles (old tshirts and bedsheets). — Table runner/wall hanging hooked with recycled textiles (old tshirts and bedsheets). (Original design.)

both rug hooking and punch needle rug hooking. In addition, though we’ll still have wool to work with, we’ll strive to look beyond the wool to materials that otherwise might end up in landfills. You know, old textiles you probably have in your house this very moment: ripped t-shirts, stained tablecloths, clothing and scarves that have seen better days… If you’re looking to pair vacation and fiber art therapy, this one’s for you. More workshop information can be found HERE and below.

Shakerag Workshops is a group of arts classes for adults held in June each year on the St. Andrew’s-Sewanee campus, in Sewanee, Tennessee. Instructors from around the world offer classes in a variety of media – knitting, basketry, book arts, clay, digital arts, felting, fiber, mixed media, jewelry, wood working, sculpture, and painting. Most participants, faculty, and staff stay on the campus, eating and working together for the week. After classes, participants enjoy hiking on the campus trails, swimming in the stream-fed mountain lake, and relaxing in yoga classes. Meals feature locally grown and organic foods served in historic Robinson Dining Hall. In the evenings, faculty members show slides and talk about their work. The studios are open throughout the night. The week culminates with a Tennessee meal on Friday evening for faculty and participants.
-from Shakerag’s website

As you can see, we’re busy these days here in the New Mexican desert. Covid’s waning, and folks are slowly getting back into the swing of things. More good news came in the mail yesterday in the form of Rug Hooking Magazine. If you recall that, during 2020, I spent much time on a yearlong project, the RIBBON RUG JOURNAL. If you turn to page 50 in RHM, you can read all about it! I also urge you to peruse Pretext Studio Rug Hooking’s Nadine Flagel‘s article on page 40. We share attitudes about the growing textile waste crisis. Her website slogan is Making Art out of Making Do: Reclaimed Text & Textiles. “Boucherouite” is a Moroccan-Arabic word for “torn” or “reused clothing.”

Dog with hooked rug — The High on Hooking Dogs, Bowyn and Tynan, bring you WOOLLEY MAT HORSE by Woolley Fox.

Bowyn actually calmed down enough to be in this week’s WHAT’S ON THE FRAME. This is a pattern I inherited when a member of the Adobe Wool Arts Guild passed away a few years ago. As a guild, we’ll be highlighting Pat’s rugs in a special exhibit at Fiber Arts Fiesta in April. The pattern, as I received it, was not identified.

You might remember, I hooked it a couple years back after receiving it. Because it sold, I needed to make another for the exhibit. Patti on Instagram was able to identify the pattern this week; she hooked it herself awhile back. LOL It’s from Woolley Fox and is called Woolley Mat Horse. As before, I’m hooking it with old t-shirts. Because we believed it to be Pat’s design, not a purchased pattern (also based on an antique rugs by Magdalena Briner Eby), I won’t hook the design again after I finish this iteration.

LASTLY, PLEASE KEEP THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO HELP OUT IN A SMALL WAY, SEE THIS DIGITAL DOWNLOAD ON ETSY, BY A UKRAINIAN ARTIST. (THERE ARE OTHER ARTISTS AND PRODUCTS AVAILABLE; JUST USE THE SHOP LOCATION FILTER UNDER SEARCH.) IT PUTS $5 IN HER POCKET, AND GOD KNOWS SHE AND ALL OF UKRAINE NEED IT.

February 24, 2022

IN THE STUDIO – Carmen Bohn on March 23

Join Canadian textile artist Carmen Bohn as she shares how her fibre journey opened her eyes and heart to “doing it scared.”

Poster for talk by Carmen Bohn

Be there Wednesday, March 23, as Carmen Bohn talks about how curiosity and courage helped her finally log out of a corporate inbox and leap into the creative unknown of running her own business. She will share how her fibre journey opened her eyes and heart to “doing it scared” and why the story of so much of her fibre art is truly the story of unfinished things. By the end of this talk, she hopes you’ll feel inspired enough to get off your computer and to go make something! Find tickets for this online talk HERE.

Carmen is a fibre artist and creative entrepreneur who lives, works, and plays in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her fibre art focuses on creating colourful and textural art yarns out of reclaimed textiles and household waste on one of her many spinning wheels. She then uses those yarns to make free-form knit and crochet objects as well as woven tapestries. She prefers to make use of items that otherwise would have gone to a landfill. She weaves (literally) the story of these things into her pieces, drawing attention to the issue of consumption and waste.

Carmen officially launched her own creative arts studio called Ply Studio in January of 2021. There and online she offers a range of creative arts workshops (sometimes in collaboration with other makers and artists) with the mission of helping people to feel happy by teaching them to make stuff by hand.

Ply Studio offers both in-person and virtual creative arts workshops. Our workshops will help you slow down, connect with others and create something beautiful. The very act of making stuff by hand is good for us. Go on – give yourself permission to learn new skills or expand on ones you already have. Ply Studio is a place where “no/I can’t/not today” is replaced by “why not?”. Oh, and we also have some well-curated supplies to fuel your next creative obsession.

Come make stuff with us.
-from Carmen’s website

When she isn’t in her studio, Carmen spends her time with her inspired husband, Chris, and her giggling girls, Everleigh and Maeven. Usually you’ll find them on a ski hill in the winter or near a body of water in the summer.

You can learn more about Carmen Bohn and see her work, or sign up for a workshop with her at www.plystudio613.com, or find her on Instagram @plystudio613 and @carmenbohn_art. She is also on Facebook @plystudio613.

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 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.

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 one hour before the talk 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.

* What Time Zone is the time of the talk in?

The time indicated on all ‘In the Studio’ talks is the EASTERN (EST) time zone. If you live in a different time zone, be sure to check what time you should tune in to ensure you don’t miss the talk.

*I can no longer make it to the talk. Or, I missed the talk. Can I get a refund?

Unfortunately no- the price of the ticket is so low that it is not cost-effective to refund those amounts. If you are unable to make it to the talk and you already have a ticket, or you forget to attend, please do contact me at info@karendmillerstudio.com. I always offer a ticket to the next talk to make up for it. All of the artist speakers receive a portion of the ticket proceeds so we very much appreciate your contribution to supporting artists!

February 8, 2022

Need a Boucherouite fix?

We’re offering a second session of Build a Baby Boucherouite in March.

Boucherouite inspired hooked art — The current Boucherouite I’m working on is all hooked and steamed. Just some hemming to do on it now.

In the Studio’s Workshop Week 4 is in the books now as is my Build a Baby Boucherouite class. We had an excellent turnout too, about 80 students, the most we’ve ever fielded. They came from all over: the US, Canada, and even Ireland! As usual, many took more than just one class, thereby ensuring they have a pile of UFOs sitting in their project baskets to last them the rest of winter. Besides teaching, at least three of us from In the Studio joined the watercolor workshop taught by Jane M. Mason. Now, besides my unfinished fiber (crocheting and hooking) objects, I’m looking at the the kick-ass paints I bought for the class. Must make time, must make time…

The Boucherouite workshop went well. In fact, you can track student Jean Ottosen of Jean Ottosen Studios on her blog as she finishes the piece she created. And it’s not a baby Boucherouite either. Jean went full table runner size. Woohoo, Jean!

There were 15 of us in that class, but others have expressed an interest in another session. Yay! That will take place at 1:00 pm Eastern, Saturday, March 12. Also on Zoom. If you’re interested, please contact me at Laura@highonhooking.com. The workshop typically lasts between two and three hours, but if you need to duck out after two, no problem. Any issues, I’m just an email or phone call away. More info below.

BUILD A BABY BOUCHEROUITE
With Laura Salamy

Saturday, March 12 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Course description
Boucherouites are having their day! They’re so trendy that you can’t look at a Better Home and Gardens magazine or watch an HGTV show without seeing them.

The Berber tribe of Morocco have been creating Boucherouites, one-of-a-kind, hand-knotted rugs since the mid-20th century. Traditionally, they’re made using old clothes and other textile scraps. They’re a pretty freestyle form of expression often looking as if the weaver started with one color scheme and pattern, got bored, and moved onto something else. They’re fun in a colorful, spontaneous way and are easily adaptable to rug hooking.

In this workshop you’ll design your own hooked “Baby Boucherouite” rug and start to hook it with textile scraps you have on hand be they cotton clothing, old bed-sheets, and/or leftover wool noodles. The sky’s the limit! We’ll also discuss how to prepare, cut, and hook with non-wool materials.

Length of class: 2-3 hours

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

Materials needed
Because this is an online workshop, students will supply their own materials. Materials will include those one usually uses to hook a rug as well as a few others. More information will be provided to students upon registration.

Class fee: $45 US
For more information or to register, please contact Laura at Laura@highonhooking.com.

January 6, 2022

IN THE STUDIO – Sarah Leighton on January 19

Join textile artist Sarah Leighton as she discusses putting more texture into our rug hooking.

Poster for Sarah Leighton talk on In the Studio

Sarah Leighton is a Maine fiber artist and rug hooker. She took her first rug hooking class in 2014, shortly after her grandmother, an incredible rug hooker, passed away. Sarah was – pun intended – hooked! Her style and technique have changed as she’s grown more comfortable with the craft. While she cherishes her grandmother’s traditional rugs, she’s made rug hooking her own. As she’s developed her own personal style, she’s come to realize how important texture is in her pieces. Join Sarah for her In the Studio Artist Talk as she shares more about how to incorporate texture into your work. You can purchase tickets for this talk HERE.

About Sarah Leighton:

In 2021, Sarah was awarded the Springboard Artist Grant from the Maine Arts Commission and was profiled in Rug Hooking Magazine in their Nov/Dec issue. You can learn more about Sarah and see her work at www.leightonfiberart.com or on Instagram @Leighton_Fiber_Art.