Category: Santa Fe

May 31, 2022

Looking to learn hooking or punching in 2022?

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.

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 class still has room for one or two more.More info HERE.

dogs and hooked art — 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.

Hooked art - glasses of red wine — 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.

Hooked art - margarita — MARGARITA hooked with repurposed textiles, silk sari yarn, wool strips, and tulle ribbon.

September 15, 2021

Happy New Year – celebrate at the Harvest Festival!

Happy New Year! Shanah Tovah!

New Year's lithograph — You know that’s how we feel about 2020 and now 2021. Trade cards from the “New Years 1890 Cards” series (N227), a set of 50 cards issued in 1889-90 to promote Kinney Tobacco Company. (Metropolitan Museum of Art; in the public domain)

Happy New Year to all of our Jewish friends! And to everyone else as well – more about that below.

High on Hooking is headed up to Santa Fe again the first weekend of October. Because it’s more fun to play with others, Cathy and I will again share a booth up at the Harvest Festival at Las Golondrinas. Amazingly, I’ve never been there, but everyone says it’s a wonderful place the visit. Being from New England, I figure it’s kind of like Sturbridge Village or Plimouth. (Never ever fall for that Plymouth Rock thing!) Perhaps you’d like to check the Harvest Festival and the hooked art out too…on October 2 and 3, of course.

El Rancho de las Golondrinas is a living history museum located on 200 acres in a rural farming valley just south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Museum, dedicated to the history, heritage and culture of 18th and 19th century New Mexico, opened in 1972. Original colonial buildings on the site date from the early 1700s. In addition, historic buildings from other parts of northern New Mexico have been reconstructed at Las Golondrinas. Villagers clothed in the styles of the times show how life was lived on the frontier in early New Mexico. Special festivals and weekend events offer visitors an in-depth look into the celebrations, music, dance and many other aspects of life in the Spanish, Mexican and Territorial periods of the Southwest.

I’m not gonna lie, the last two vendings weren’t particularly lucrative. Between Covid and logistics and Covid… Someday maybe we’ll get back to some kind of normal. Someday…

In the meantime, there’s plenty to keep us busy. For instance, there are always a rug or three to hook and projects to crochet. There are classes to prep. (Remember that I’ve added a session to WW3 on October 23!) And I need to get ready for an improv hand-quilting workshop with Heidi Parkes. Unfortunately, I’m in another class the exact same time Heidi’s runs, but she’s taping it, so I’ll use the video. Not quite the same, but for 50 bucks, I’m not complaining, especially for one of her classes. More on that later.

In other news, next week we’ll be looking at four new walls. Keep your eyes on the Instagram and Facebook feeds for that. Hoping it’s good for my journaling/sketching practice which need a jump start. And hiking and just getting away from…people.

There’s a LOT going on these days. So much so that I’ve really got to post more. And I will when I get the chance. A hint: Next June, look for HoH in Tennessee! (More on that later too.)

Lastly – besides the pic of the boys and WHAT’S ON THE FRAME – for me, while I’m not Jewish, September’s always been about the NEW YEAR as much as January 1. If you have kids or you were a kid, you understand. But now that Tom and I are on our own and summer in the desert isn’t even close to ending come August 31, the school year isn’t really a thing for us. And yet, September, maybe because it’s such a time of change (or at least potential change), marks a passage for me much as New Year’s does. It’s time to think about winter and being indoors more and how we’ll pass that time. It’s about taking stock and considering how we’ll face the future. But it’s definitely forward-thinking, not sad. It’s about potential.

Bowyn and Tynan bid you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Make the best of it. We intend to. This rug is hooked with all reclaimed t-shirts on monk’s cloth. If you want to try hooking with old t-shirts, check out my WW3 class.)

How about you? Do you see September as a “new year” or is it just bittersweet as we say goodbye to sun and warm weather? (Which one starts to really look at differently living in the desert, let me tell you!)

July 27, 2021

Two in-person art events in August – FINALLY!

I’ll repeat that: High on Hooking will be participating in not just one, but two in-person art events in August! The last time we got to do anything in person was when we taught a punch needle rug hooking class up at the New Mexico Fiber Arts Center (Española, NM) in late February, 2020. Before the stupid Coronacootie struck and absconded with over a year of our lives.

Flyer for one August in-person event. — One of the honest to goodness August in-person art events!

The first event is the UNDERFOOT AND ALL AROUND Rag Rug and Textile Arts Sale in Santa Fe. It’s presented by Art Through the Loom (ATTL), a textile arts guild that I recently joined.

Art Through The Loom promotes weaving and fiber arts in Northern New Mexico. The ATTL members are fiber artists with a strong commitment to weaving and all fiber arts.

Art Through the Loom Guild members are a diverse community of fiber artists who come together from primarily northern New Mexico to access markets and learn from one another as textile professionals.

SALE INFO:
Date: August 20,21
Time: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Montezuma Lodge, 431 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM

Flyer for another one of the August in-person events. — One of the August in-person art events.

The weekend after Underfoot and All Around, Sturday, August 28, we’re heading back to Mountainair, NM, after a 2-year hiatus. The SUNFLOWER FESTIVAL is one of my favorite events. Sure, I have to drive an hour-and-a-half to get there, but it’s beautiful with all kinds of NM art! And who doesn’t love sunflowers? That’s reminding me; I have to hook a small sunflower mat for the silent auction. Must get on that now that I’m home.

We’ve been silent here on the website for a few weeks as we’ve been back East (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island) to visit family and friends. Because it’s such a L-O-N-G ride in the car, Tynan stayed here in Albuquerque with Ruth. He thanks Ruth for her hospitality and homemade doggie treats AND Mary R. for taking him on walks in the Bosque. Bowyn and Tom and I are recovering from the trip today. We got in last night, and our backs are telling us all about those three 10-hour day drives coming home. I anticipate another round of yoga this evening…

I need to get this post up, but we’ll chat more about what we’ve been doing and making next week. I hope that we’ll see you at one of the August in-person art events. Or both!

And a public service announcement: Those covid numbers are going up again. If we want to keep our scheduled, in-person events from being cancelled, make sure you and yours get vaccinated.

May 11, 2021

On to Ghost Ranch!

Meet up at Ghost Ranch in June!

You know that old saying “The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away”? Well, indeed He does. Just ten or so days ago, I wrote about how excited I was to be finally attending an in-person fiber festival up at El Rancho de las Golondrinas near Santa Fe. Then, last week, Cathy and I got word that, due to state or county Covid guidelines, they had to cancel it. Not sure why, as that county is opened as much as anything can be here in NM. And I’d gone to a couple of farmers’ markets that were pretty crowded down here in Albuquerque where we aren’t quite as open. I was so anticipating the festival and chatting folks up about hooking and all things fiber…

But there is some good news. Because, I’m fully vaccinated, I taught a lovely 80-year old to punch last Friday. In person! She’s quite the pistol too. I hope to have pics when the yarn I ordered for her comes in, and I can get over to her house again. And I have a student coming this Friday as well! I’m looking forward to spreading the fiber gospel some more. In person! Thank goodness for the vaccines!

Then there’s even better news. I’d alluded earlier to the fact that I was planning to teach at a “special” venue. It’s finally up online so I can spill it. June 27 – July 2, I’ll be teaching at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiú north of here in New Mexico. Having only driven by and never stopped, I can’t wait to spend the better part of a week there. We’ll be working on both hooking and punching, stressing all the while the use of recycled and reclaimed materials in our work. Think old t-shirts, bed sheets, plastic bags, and so on. The workshop is titled HOOK A RUG SAVE THE PLANET! (Click on the link for more info.) There will be plenty of downtime to hike and explore the Ranch and surrounding area.

For those not familiar with Ghost Ranch,

The landscape of Ghost Ranch—made famous by painter Georgia O’Keeffe and the incomparable hospitality of first director, Jim Hall—encompasses 21,000 acres of towering rock walls, vivid colors and vast skies. People from all over the world come to work together in creation care, to paint, write poetry, to hike, ride horseback, to research globally renowned archaeological and fossil quarries or simply to rest and renew their spirits.
-Ghost Ranch website

Photograph by ghostranch.org.

Georgia O’Keeffe is indelibly and colorfully linked to the Ranch though she only owned seven acres of it. More info on that HERE. The actual owners gifted it to the Presbyterian Church who created the Ghost Ranch Education & Retreat Center. The Center “fosters well-being and spiritual health through this historic, inspiring southwest landscape.” They do that by offering various activities on the land like hiking, camping, and horseback riding as well retreats and workshops. And that, my friends, is where my class comes in. The Ranch values good stewardship of the earth. An art workshop stressing re-use of materials to make something beautiful and maybe even useful falls right in their wheelhouse. And I couldn’t be any happier. I’m thinking of what it can mean for my own art and then just to have that time away from “home” stuff. Time to talk fiber, time to hike and sketch.

Chile pepper hooked rug — “The Ripening” is all New Mexico. (Old t-shirts; 9.5″x9.5″)

If you’re thinking about traveling this summer, maybe a peaceful, fiber retreat in northern New Mexico, a place filled with our special light and color, is the place for you. Chile peppers always available!

April 30, 2021

We’re going to shows – in-person!

In-person events. Can you imagine it after over a year of hiding out from each other? But it’s starting to happen!

High on Hooking and friend Catherine Kelly will be vending our first in-person show since November of 2019! We’ll be at the SPRING & FIBER FESTIVAL at EL RANCHO DE LAS GOLONDRINAS June 5/6. It’s an outdoor venue, so if you’re vaccinated, you probably won’t even need a mask! If you’re in the area then, please stop by to chat and fondle the rugs. Mention this blog post and get a 5% discount on anything you purchase from High on Hooking. (See our other events in the Calendar.)

Spring’s just busting out all over! It’s been a big week here in the HoH house. We entered the modern age when we traded our 2003 Honda Accord in for a much newer “old” car, a 2019 CR-V. All those freaking electronics! Fortunately, I still have my little Fit to tool about town in and keep my gas usage and emissions to a minimum.

Wednesday, Cathy (above) and I took the new vehicle for a spin up to Santa Fe’s Museum of International Folk Art. Other than the need for a mask, it was like pre-Covid times! An in-person museum visit! I was so excited early last year when the museum announced that they’d be having an exhibit of the Afghan War Rugs from summer through the fall. And then the Coronacootie struck! No fears – they were able to extend the exhibit through September of this year. Since I had my second Moderna vaccine last week, it was finally time. And the carpets did not disappoint. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any pics, so I stole the one below from the museum’s website.

Photograph of Afghan War Rug; we were able to go to the museum in person. — Photograph from Museum of International Folk Art

For those who aren’t familiar with the Afghan War Rugs, at first glance some of them look like typical, traditional rugs woven in Afghan and other areas of the Middle East, but when you take a second look, you realize that the Cypress tree motif is a…missile. A “boteh” (paisley) is really a helicopter. Look a little harder and you’ll find pistols, machine guns and grenades. In some of the rugs, though, the artisans went full on war-rug. You can’t miss the tanks.

Afghanistan is known for its rugs, though many of these rugs were created by Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran after Russia and then the US waged war in the country. They offer, certainly, an artistic commentary on what’s happened in (primarily) the last 40 or so years. (Russia invaded in 1979.) But they also demonstrate a commercial response to war in Afghanistan and the effect on its people. The carpets have proven popular with journalists, military personnel, foreign aid workers, and such.

The emergence of war-related imagery in Afghan rug design has clearly aided the economic survival of area weavers and displaced craftspeople through years of armed conflict and cultural disruption. What war rugs mean to individual weavers is less understood. Are war rugs a celebration of modernity or a rejection of war? Are they a witness to shared trauma or a commercialization of violence? Are they testaments to ingenuity and a spirit of survival? Perhaps they are all of these things at once.
(Museum of International Folk Art)

Over 40 rugs hang in the exhibit. Some look brand new; others have clearly been used as…rugs. All are fascinating to view. And, of course, being textiles, we desperately wanted to touch them. To turn them over and examine them. Yeah, that would’ve gotten us booted out. Unfortunately, too, there’s no real info about individual rugs or artists. Though this isn’t surprising.

If you ever get a chance to see this exhibit, make sure that you do. If you’d like to read more about the War Rugs, there’s a great article here. The Museum of International Folk Art has a virtual exhibit available here.

Dogs on hooked rug — This is what happens when you try to take the WHAT’S ON THE FRAME pic too close to the boys’ dinner hour. Just getting them both in the frame was tough enough, then they kept looking over their shoulders as if Daddy was about to make and eat their meals. Still working on the newest in the happy rug series. Her name will be “Abundance.”

What events are you excited to get back to in-person this year?