In-Person Workshop May 20, at EVFAC/NMFAC!
If you live in central or northern New Mexico or will be visiting later in May, and you’ve wanted to learn to rug hooking, now is your chance! I’ll be running a class up in Española at the Fiber Arts Center on May 20, 1:00-5:00 PM. Registration info can be found HERE. Any questions, please give me a yell at Laura@highonhooking.com.
Hope to see you there. I promise that we’ll have a truly excellent time hooking rugs and saving the environment!
NMFAC to host punch needle workshop
New Mexico peeps! Is stretching creatively one of your New Year’s resolutions? Looking to learn a new technique? Whatever your reasons, the time is now! Or at least on January 21. New Mexico Fiber Arts Center (aka NMFAC/EVFAC) is hosting moi so that YOU can start punch needle rug hooking. The funny thing is that I taught this class for NMFAC/EVFAC just before Covid sent us all home for our extended “vacation.” Who knew it would take soooo long to get back?
Find all pertinent info copied below, but register HERE.
January 21st: 10:30am-1:30pm
Members: $70
Non Members: $80
Students (Ages 14-18): $40
Ages 14+
Limit: 10 participants.
All skill levels welcome!
Materials fee (Paid upon arrival directly to instructor): $20
Students will learn how to use the punch needle to make a small project that can be hung on a wall or used as a “mug rug.” The basic skill set gained will allow students to move on to larger projects like table runners, pillows, and rugs with confidence.
During the class, students will:
• transfer a simple pattern onto a cotton, monk’s cloth backing
• prepare materials
• begin punching a mug rug or wall-hanging.
We’ll also discuss various ways you might want to finish your rug after all the punching is done. No experience is necessary; just come prepared to play with all the colors!
Materials Instructor will provide: Handouts, rug yarn and monk’s cloth. An Oxford punch needle and frame will be provided and can be purchased after class, if desired.
Please bring a pair of scissors!
About Laura Salamy: Laura Salamy is the experienced, albeit “not-so-traditional” fiber artist behind High on Hooking (www.highonhooking.com). She serves as President of the Adobe Wool Arts Guild, New Mexico’s only rug hooking guild. Laura teaches locally and on Zoom. Her work can be seen online, in various books, in Rug Hooking Magazine, and in the Association of Traditional Hooking Artists Magazine.
Class cancellation policy: Students will receive a full refund if cancelling up to 7 days prior to the class. If cancelling within one week of the class, students will receive a 50% refund to be used for NMFAC class credit only.
FYI – If you can’t make this workshop, I’ll be in Los Alamos teaching at Fuller Lodge Art Center in late February and early March. Find info about those classes HERE.
See HoH’s entire calendar of events and classes HERE.
2023 is right around the corner!
My plan for this week between Christmas and the New Year has been to do the things I WANT to do rather than HAVE to do. (The last couple of months planning Workshop Week 6 and handling some other things – like LIFE – were exhausting.) Things I wanted to do include the usual end of the year review and, more importantly, making plans for the coming 2023.
Gotta say I’ve been a little lazy on all accounts. Also, the final holiday rush took its toll physically. I’ve been mostly lying low the past few days: started a novel, doing Sudokus, and working on a new hooking project. Going through my piles and drawers and closets to organize and dispossess hasn’t happened. Yet. I still have a couple of days, especially given that it’s a long weekend. Watch for that ANGEL OF 2023! She’s a little late this year, but she’ll make an appearance by January 1.
I didn’t feel up to a detailed post mortem on 2022. Sadly, the end of the year brought with it a flurry of deaths in my little part of the universe. Nonetheless, like everyone, my 2022 brought some downers and some nice pluses. Teaching in Tennessee at the Shakerag Workshops was right up there. If you have a chance to participate – as a teacher or a student – I highly recommend the experience. A couple of articles I wrote were published in Rug Hooking Magazine. There were art shows and festivals here in Albuquerque and in Other Places, New Mexico. In the fall I made it out to Seattle to visit the kid. With a little luck, Tom and Bowyn, and I will make a road trip there in 2023.
What about the coming year? In 2023, I’d really like more time to myself, time to explore my making. Certainly, I look forward to teaching and sharing how others can get in on this calling of rug hooking and other fiber arts, but I need to carve out time for myself to sit in one place and ponder and experiment without distraction. I find it really easy to administer, to volunteer, to vacuum (ew!), to do anything but make the things I’ve seen in my imagination. Busy-ness, a need to feel needed, and the concomitant exhaustion – they can kill an art practice. I see it in others, and all it leads to is regret.
So, my big goal in 2023 is: SOLITUDE. Not that I plan on blowing anyone off. I’m a très social being who has a hard time saying NO. But it’s time for a little me-time. (Being Catholic and Irish, I know I’ll apologize for that all year.)
My New Year’s wish is that you too carve out some solitude for yourself and your art, your gaming, your reading, whatever it is that you can lose yourself in. Happy 2023!
The gifts are wrapped; it’s Christmas for real now. I look forward to taking a week off from things I HAVE to do so I can accomplish some things I WANT to do. Like working on a new hooking project and planning some new ones for 2023. (More on those in a few weeks.)
If you’re still looking to fill a creative’s stocking or or even gifting yourself, HoH has a few ideas. Our winter teaching schedule is filling – for both in person and online events. Yay! After the holidays, I’ll give more info, but find the salient info below.
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR ALL EVENTS!
INTRODUCTION TO PUNCH NEEDLE RUG HOOKING
Saturday, January 21, 2023
New Mexico Fiber Arts Center, Espanola, NM
More info HERE.
IN THE STUDIO ONLINE WORKSHOP WEEK 6 – Various Fiber Arts
February 16-26, 2023
Nationally known teachers! 9 workshops and 5 lectures plus 2 bonus events!
More info HERE.
FULLER LODGE ART CENTER / LOS ALAMOS ARTS COUNCIL
Introduction to Rug Hooking – Saturday, February 25, 2023
Introduction to Punch Needle Rug Hooking – Saturday, March 4, 2023
Fuller Lodge Art Center, Los Alamos, NM
More info HERE.
We here at High on Hooking thank you for all your support this past year – students, festival organizers, schools, and customers. We wish you the best of Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, whatever winter holidays you might celebrate. Here’s hoping for a joyful and peaceful 2023.
Love punch needle? New Mexico or visiting fiber folks, this is for you!
The HEART OF NEW MEXICO FIBER AND ART GATHERING happens in Edgewood at the Wildlife West Nature Park during Labor Day Weekend. If you’ve had a yen to learn punch needle, now’s your chance. WORKSHOP info HERE.
PLUS there will be vendors, other workshops, music, animals, and all kinds of things. Register online or contact me with interest or questions concerning the punch needle class.
PS – If you can’t make this workshop, see the CALENDAR for other class opportunities.
