If you’re in Albuquerque this summer and can get thee to the Fabric of New Mexico textile arts exhibit, get thee there for sure! It’s a très classy show. Below you’ll find some highlights from the opening night reception.
“This exhibit stretches the limits of fiber art to celebrate the full range of innovative creativity in fabric, including quilting, macramé, embroidery, rug hooking, and work with plastics, paper, metal, and wire. Curated by artist Martin Terry as part of the Two Moons exhibit series, the Fabric of New Mexico [includes] over 20 contemporary fiber artists working in New Mexico today.”
Find the full schedule of related events including fiber art workshops and demos at FUSIONnm.org. More info HERE.
Three of my pieces are in the Fabric of New Mexico show: WHIMSY up above, HOLES, and a couple of segments from the RIBBON RUG JOURNAL.
Several mixed media pieces by Kathryn Lazier.Kathryn Lazier’s GREENMAN (felt; fabrics; yarn; dyed, moldable batting; machine and hand stitching; fabric stiffener)
BALLET FOLKLORICO OUTFIT / TRADITIONAL CHIAPAS TOP AND SKIRT provided by Sally Moon of W!ild Moon; handmade in Chiapas, Mexico.
LA CHURRITA with maker Vivienne Riggio. (Papier mache head and horns; raw churro sheep’s wool; upcycled textiles and necklace.)
MISSING by Carol Sullivan (Wooden disc; milk carton with typing; wooden stick with smooth, multicolored cotton; twine; beige suede; red permanent marker; crystals; bone mutton; various findings; red suede; metal wolf; black permanent marker on white cotton; feathers; gold pin; red bandana; gold pin; acrylic batting.)
WEAVING THROUGH TIME by Sara Miller. (Acrylic paint; wool felt; cotton fabric; wool and silk roving; rayon thread.)
DAY by Mika Maloney. (Merino wool yarn (with cotton/poly cord); scrap leather; dried flowers on driftwood.)
AUTUMN LEAVES by Terri Lagerway. (Weaving on branch.)
BEE PEACEFUL by Patricia Halloran. (Wire; wet and needle felted wool felt; embroidery floss; recycled cotton backing and stuffing.)
WAVES by Maria Jonsson. (Recycled metal; magnet wire.)
SIPHONOPHORE by Betty Busby. (Artit overpainted cotton batik; machine stitching; artist painted linen; cotton knit; EVA foam; paint marker; hand stitchin with perle cotton thread.)
FANTASY GARDEN, freeform crochet, by members of the New Mexico Crochet Guild.ALCHEMY (part of a pair) by Laurie McCann. (Wire grid and wire mesh; Chinese pot lids; yarn; coins.)JELLIES (part of a pair) by Laurie McCann. (Wire grid and wire mesh; Chinese pot lids; yarn; coins.)
And lastly, WHY NOT GO OUT ON A LIMB by Molly Mooney. Tom and I liked this one soooo much that we’re purchasing it. It’s going to look perfect in our living room, currently dominated by a large TV. (Found tree branch; hand-dyed wool fiber; found and repurposed bells; beads and ceramic pieces; sari fabrics; ribbons.)
“Holes” – mostly repurposed textiles hand-hooked on monk’s cloth; 68″x33″x0.75″
The Fabric of New Mexico exhibit opens Friday, July 1 at Fusion in downtown Albuquerque. All are cordially invited to the opening reception, 5:30-8:00 p.m.
This exhibit stretches the limits of fiber art to celebrate the full range of innovative creativity in fabric, including quilting, macramé, embroidery, rug hooking, and work with plastics, paper, metal, and wire. Curated by artist Martin Terry, the show includes work by twenty New Mexico artists including Sara Miller, Larry Schulte, Betty Busby and Judith Roderick.
More information about Fusion can be found HERE. Also, the gallery will be open for the Summer Sundays Markets, Last Fridays (of each month), theater events, and concerts. See EVENTS. If you can’t make it to the gallery any of those days, please contact High on Hooking, and we can have the gallery opened up for a private viewing.
Note: Parking is available just across the street in the city parking lot.
Looking to learn rug hooking or punch needle rug hooking this year? If you’re in or plan to be in New Mexico in the fall, you’re in luck.
Logo for the Mountain and Valley Wool Festival – Looking to learn a new skill?
While High on Hooking is happy to give private lessons pretty much any time, we’re now announcing that we’ll be teaching at two fall fiber events:
HEART OF NM FIBER & ART GATHERING – LEARN PUNCH NEEDLE RUG HOOKING
–September 3/4, 2022
-At the Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood.
-There will be vendors, workshops, live animals, and demonstrations.
-Workshops haven’t been scheduled just yet, so check back on their website or contact me directly to take part.
MOUNTAIN AND VALLEY WOOL FESTIVAL(previously known as the Taos Wool Festival)
–October 1/2, 2022 This is perfect if you’re planning to come to New Mexico for Balloon Fiesta!
-Santa Fe County Fair Grounds, Santa Fe
-There will be vendors, a fiber critter corner (live animals), demonstrations, live music, and food! Workshops aren’t scheduled just yet, but check back on the website. -We’ll be teaching both rug hooking and punch needle rug hooking.
In the meantime, in a couple of weeks, High on Hooking is headed to Sewanee, Tennessee, to teach at the SHAKERAG WORKSHOPS starting June 18. I believe that there are still openings for workshops, so take a peak if you’re looking to learn something new or just enjoy an adult-only, creative summer camp. My own classstill has room for one or two more.More info HERE.
Bowyn and Tynan bring you WHAT’S ON THE FRAME – May 31, 2022. Yes, Bowyn needs a haircut bad.
We’ve been so busy here that it’s been a while since I’ve shared what’s on my frame. Clearly, that peeves the boys who are always on the lookout for a job that provides them a treat or eight. So, here they are. And, yes, Bowyn is hiding much of the piece. More on it later.
LE VIN, LA VIE is hooked with repurposed textiles, old plastic bags, silk sari yarn, and wool yarns and strips. The “mini Me” inspired the whole series.
In the past couple of months, we started a fun, new series of hooked art: The Cocktail Series. So far we’ve finished two pieces: the “Margarita” and “le vin, la vie.” I’ve got more drinks in mind and will intersperse them between other larger projects. And stitching and crocheting projects as well, of course. Why do just one thing when you can fill your summer up with all kinds of fiber fun?
What are your summer plans??? I hope they include a bunch of fiber projects and at least a few margaritas.
MARGARITA hooked with repurposed textiles, silk sari yarn, wool strips, and tulle ribbon.
At High on Hooking we try to remember the Earth every day, not just on Earth Day. It’s not difficult, really. Since we moved to New Mexico almost seven years ago (my mind is blown every time I think of that!), the summer temperatures and number of days above 100 degrees F have steadily increased. Hell, when we made our plans to relocate to the high desert from Massachusetts, average summer temperatures here were less than 95! And while we were aware of the drought, no one thought that it would go on this long. Now it’s considered a megadrought, the worst in 1200 years! On my walks in the Bosque, I’ve witnessed the Rio Grande dribble itself into a Rio “Pequeño.” If I didn’t worry about the mud and the potentially toxic crap in the mud, I might venture to walk across it.
Between smog and wild weather and drought and fires, I understand why young folks have anxiety about their future. My own kid is pretty cynical and depressed about it all. Yesterday’s headline in the Boston Globe certainly didn’t help my own mood: “As Earth’s temperature rises, Massachusetts residents’ sense of urgency on climate change declines.” We’re all tired of the doom and gloom, but I think the most terrible thing is that we seem to have lost hope. The past couple of months have demonstrated Americans’ inability to give up our gas-guzzling ways. A couple of weeks ago, city councilors in Albuquerque rolled back a single use plastic bag ban that had barely been in play since the mayor had put it on hold during much of the pandemic. They couldn’t even wait till June for the study to determine if it was effective was completed. Now, in addition to dirty, used masks, I’ve started seeing plastic bags again on roadsides and caught up in trees. Shit, if we can’t even get the mostly surface level stuff right, if we’re so short-sighted about garbage in our streets, how can we ever be serious about righting our sinking Earth, our only home?
Clearly, the adults of the world don’t care much about what we’re leaving for our kids. Just look at how so many treat Greta Thurnberg of Sweden.
Others diminish Greta Thunberg’s work because of her age. Ever since Greta first made headlines a few years ago and she delivered her now-famous “How dare you” speech, her age has been leveraged against her words. As Thunberg points out in her speech, her detractors are right in a sense. Thunberg shouldn’t have to stand before world leaders, telling them the obvious, which is that we’re being led directly into the jaws of the greatest threat to humanity we have ever known. Climate change.
It’s shameful that Thunberg has to do what she does, but the adults of the world are failing to ensure a future for the next generation. So it’s up to people like Thunberg to try to do something to save the world that the youth will inherit.
Part of the reason she inspires such rage, of course, is blindingly obvious. Climate change is terrifying. The Amazon is burning. So too is the Savannah. Parts of the Arctic are on fire. Sea levels are rising. There are more vicious storms and wildfires and droughts and floods. Denial is easier than confronting the terrifying truth.
Laura Ingraham, the Fox News host, called Ms. Thunberg’s United Nations speech “chilling” on her Monday night show, and ran a segment about how climate change “hysteria” is changing American youth.
Climate change has been caused by human activity. And no one likes being told that their actions have contributed to a freaking calamity, but at some point, we have to own up to it and make it so that human and other life can go on. So that the lives of our kids and their kids can go on. That’s what being an adult is about, isn’t it?
Thunberg has already had a demonstrated impact on how her generation views the climate crisis, with one recent survey showing that nearly 70 percent of people under the age of 18 believe that climate change is a global emergency compared with 58 percent of people over the age of 60. …Thunberg isn’t daunted by her status. The way she sees it, the demonization is a diversion from clmate science, to which skeptics have few answers.
We try to use mostly recycled or reclaimed materials in the art at High on Hooking every day, not just on Earth Day. But we can’t always resist virgin wool yarns like in that sunflower.
At High on Hooking, I know that I need to do more to care for my and our environment: take shorter showers; buy way less crap; mend more; drive my little Honda Fit rather than the CRV when I’m cruising around Albuquerque; and really be more aware of how my actions affect it all. We can’t buy our way out of this problem. We have to change. In my art, I already already work hard to hook with materials that others might just discard. But it’s not enough. If I can’t adjust what I do, how can I expect others to do anything?
Earth Day 2022 is Friday. Will you mark the day as crucial for our home?
