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IN THE STUDIO – January 13 with Tracy Jamar

Tracy Jamar gives a peek at several pieces of her most recent works.

 

Poster for In the Studio with Tracy Jamar

 

Join Tracy Jamar as she shares what brought her to rug hooking and the trajectory that brought her to the work she’s doing now. She will give a peek at several pieces of her most recent works conceived by current events in her life:  from the requirement to stay in place due to Covid to downsizing after the sale of her home.

About Tracy:

Tracy Jamar is familiar with traditional forms of needlework as she has been a restorer specializing in antique textiles, especially quilts and hooked rugs, for over 30 years. She started in 1979, at America Hurrah Antiques in NYC and, in 1985, opened Jamar Textile Restoration Studio, also in NYC.

In 2006, she returned to school to complete an undergraduate degree, an independent/individualized study of American history through women’s handmade textiles at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. Soon after graduation, Tracy set her restoration business aside to make contemporary fiber works using traditional textile techniques.

Her works have been in juried and invitational exhibits: at the Farnsworth Art Museum; in a traveling exhibit to Japan; in exhibits in South Korea; and in a national tour with the Textile Study Group of NY among other places.

Tracy’s book, Coils, Folds, Twists and Turns: Contemporary Techniques in Fiber (2017) explores many of her techniques. She also contributed to American Sewn Rugs: Their History with Exceptional Examples with Jan Whitlock in 2012. They exhibited some of those rugs at Sauder Village in 2013. She appeared twice on the Martha Stewart Living television program and in Mary Sheppard Burton’s A Passion for the Creative Live: Textiles to Lift the Spirit and other publications.

Tracy was the keynote speaker at the Association of Traditional Hooking Artists (ATHA) Biennial in Denver, 2019. Her most recent award was for Best Sculpture at the Guild Hall Members Art Exhibit 2020 in East Hampton, NY.

You can learn more about Tracy Jamar and see her work at www.tracyjamar.com, and on FB and IG @tracyjamarfiberworks.

 

Find tickets for this event at Ticketscene.


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 10am the day of the event.  After that time you will no longer be able to purchase tickets.

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.

 

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WILL RUG HOOKING SURVIVE?

The other day  I read an email sent to reps on the Education Committee of the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council regarding the potential of online education and the purposes of today’s guilds. This is something my own guild regularly discusses.

I ask because the answers might drive our educational goals in different directions.  And perhaps show us a source of inspiration to promote the continuation of the arts we all love. 
-Kathy Jackson

Earlier in the week and given current events, Beth Miller of Parris House Wool Works started a discussion on her business Facebook page. I urge you to go to her page and read the comments.

Why do we see so few BIPOC and LGBTQ people in rug hooking? Other textile arts are starting to increase in diversity, but I don’t think we are seeing that in rug hooking. Why is that?
For that matter, why are we seeing so few people under 40, or even under 50, hooking rugs? Or men?
What would it take to attract more people to rug hooking?
This is not rhetorical or academic. This is existential.
If rug hooking does not become inclusive, starting with young people, people of color, LGBTQ people, no one will be talking about rug hooking at all in a short fifty years.
-Beth Miller

I just turned 56 and am the youngest person, I believe, in my guild. This is not an anomaly among ATHA guilds. We’re aging. All you had to do was look around at last year’s Biennial in Denver to see that.

On the subject of ATHA guilds, I was amazed to read in Beth’s comments that some guilds aren’t even accepting members any more. WTF?

I also have it on pretty good authority that the circulation of Rug Hooking Magazine has been declining for the last number of years.

So what are we to do if we want to ensure that this tradition sticks around for another 200 years?

Personally, I’m really impressed by the buzz that is punch needle rug hooking these last few years.Those mostly young mostly ladies are all over Instagram, the current social media of choice, especially for artists. They’ve got online and in-shop classes going. They’ve got rock star celebrities like Arounna Khounnoraj of BOOKHOU and Rose Pearlman. No, I don’t necessarily care for all of their designs; in fact, I find many of them simplistic, but perhaps that’s what it takes to get the “youngsters” to sign up and learn the skill. All art and artists evolve with time, and they’re just starting.

Traditional rug hookers are on Instagram too, but, frankly, it’s not the same. We sometimes lack…the panache. Our projects can seem almost…fuddy duddy, I’m sorry to say. Not that there’s anything wrong with primitive rugs or traditional patterns, but, let’s be honest, is a finely shaded rose – and especially all the “rules” that go with that finely shaded rose – going to draw the attention of a typical 28 or 38-year old who’s got a full time job and maybe a baby taking up her time? What we have to do is show EVERYTHING that rug hooking can be, that is has the potential to be a rose and a 3-D sculpture à la Liz Alpert Fay or Rachelle LeBlanc.

In reading the responses to Beth’s questions and thoughts above, a few things stand out.

DIVERSITY
I don’t have to tell you that this is a HUGE topic today. And I mean this very day in June, 2020, not something theoretical. And society is hopefully starting to examine how a lack of diversity and acceptance pervades almost everything making up our society. I don’t feel qualified at the moment to pontificate on how we can draw other groups into our very white, older woman rug hooking demographic. And BTW, I am not apologizing for being a white, middle-aged rug hooker. But any group can grow staid after a hundred years or so. Change is good. Fresh ideas and perspectives are to be welcomed. Again, it’s about evolution.

TIME
A number of folks mentioned how the “young” are busy with: school; jobs and career-building; families and all they entail; and so on. Yes, this is undeniable. I started hooking when my kid was around seven years old. I was working part time as an environmental manager in a manufacturing plant. I was busy too. But I also knew that I wanted to create. Something. Rug hooking was something I could do in the evening when I watched television after the kid was in bed. And I wasn’t on a schedule. If a rug took a year, it took a year. Canadian hooker Karen Miller spoke about this just yesterday on Instagram and Facebook. She’s got a couple of kids, a fiber art business, and writes books! If something appeals enough to an individual, they will make the time for it. Ask Amy Oxford; she sells a lot of punch needles to people like me who are teaching beginners. Again, how do we make rug hooking appealing enough to gain more of our own beginners?

EXPENSE
This is a big one. And it certainly appears that rug hooking is an expensive sport what with the hand-dyed wool, the linen, the cutters, the patterns, the workshops and teachers. I’m sure I missed something. Here’s the thing, though, that’s just bullshit. The Canadian and New England ladies back in the 1800s didn’t have all those things, did they?

I learned how to hook in a community education class maybe 15 years ago. I did have to pay for that and a kit. The experience cost maybe $100. But I knew virtually nothing about hooking. Nor did I know anyone to teach me.

When my class ended, the teacher didn’t offer any additional lessons or mention a guild or anything. She did suggest a quilter’s hoop for finishing the project. Beyond that I was on my own. Thank goodness for the Internet, used books from Amazon, and Rug Hooking Magazine. With those resources I learned that:

  • I could get monk’s cloth for a lot cheaper than linen. (And no one talk to me about hating monk’s cloth and how it “stretches.” I learned on it and have always loved it. Pull in the opposite direction and it’s good as new.)
  • About rug yarn and punching, which I learned on my own. (Caveat: a few years later I took a class with Amy.);
  • How to draw a pattern;
  • How to finish a rug; and
  • Any number of tips which all you ladies have generously shared over the years especially as rug hooking groups proliferated on Facebook.

For years I used the student hook that came with my initial kit. My husband repaired that quilter’s hoop a few times when I over-tightened it. Once it was apparent I was in rug hooking for the long haul, he bought me a Puritan frame for Christmas. I still use it. I didn’t get a cutter until a couple of years ago; it was a guild hand-me-down that I purchased for less than $100.

Having no real rug hooking shop anywhere near me, I initially used wool yarn I found in a local shop. It was pretty thin. Sorry, I’m not good at yarn nomenclature. It took a really long time to hook up the two mats I made with that stuff. Later I bought old wool suit jackets from the thrift store. When I realized that it often wasn’t good wool, I came up with the idea of hooking with recycled t-shirts. They were plentiful, cheap, and came in lots of colors. Silk bouses and scarves and then bedsheets followed. If you can make a strip out of it, you can hook it. And don’t forget the yarn. To this day, so called “alternative fibers” make up the bulk of my work. And I get them at Savers or as gifts from folks looking to unload stuff.

I will admit that when I finally found a guild that sprouted up near me, I had a hard time. Or shall I say they had a hard time with me and my t-shirt rugs. I didn’t feel particularly welcome, though I’m sure some of the problem was my own sense of not fitting in and even inadequacy. I don’t know what it is about Albuquerque, but when I moved and  joined the Adobe Wool Arts Guild, I knew I was home. (See last week’s post.) They might not have wanted to hook with bed sheets, but they thought my rugs were pretty cool. I felt welcome.

During non-Covid years I teach a class to beginners called “Hook a Rug, Save the Environment.” It’s pretty much always filled with ladies who have never hooked and, therefore, have no pre-concieved ideas about beautiful wool or rug hooking rules. BTW, I am not a certified McGown teacher. I have nothing against them; hey, we have four or five in our guild! There’s room for all of us. My career in environmental management was all about rules and regulations. Rug hooking is where I can let it all out, do whatever I want. It’s art and it’s personal. There are no wrong answers. I am the boss of my rug, as we say in our guild.

The punch hookers have grabbed onto that idea and run with it. They use whatever yarn they want. No one cares if it’s acrylic or wool. They keep their pieces small to fit within a hoop or whatever they use to hold the piece; no cumbersome moving of the rug on a frame. Many of them see the back of the rug as the front! (The loops are on the back.) Or, better, they switch it all up and have flat and loops on the front! Sure, I think that loops on the back is a waste of yarn, but who cares? They are the bosses of their rugs. They’re having a great time, and their rugs are new and different.

So, how do we as the “old guard” re-excite our sisterhood (and our brothers) enough so that we can share this marvelous art with the “youngsters”? It’s gonna take technology, I fear. Damn, I’m still not all that excited by Zoom. When “they” let us, we need to get out into our communities and do a lot of demonstrations. And leave the expensive equipment at home. I’m not saying we should all start using bent nails instead of hooks, but maybe have some hoops and burlap or monk’s cloth on hand to let a kid try pulling some Lion brand bulky acrylic yarn. Most get it pretty quickly.

I’ll close my rant with something that the editor of Rug Hooking Magazine wrote in the March/April/May,1993 issue:

I hope the new people we introduce to rug hooking will find in it a totally fascinating art. Let us be welcome to newcomers. Let us teach beginners patiently. …Let us encourage and inspire.

We need new people in rug hooking. …I hope we find many of them. Please welcome them with all your talented, warm and wonderful hearts…
-Mary Ellen Cooper

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After the vending…

 

So, vending is over for the year; time to relax. Yeah, if only. Instead, I have LOTS OF WORK here at High on Hooking, both new, old, and some things I’ve been putting off till now.

Rug and mug to be sold on Etsy now that High on Hooking's vending season is over.
“New Mexico Geometrics” just went up into the Etsy shop last night! It comes with 4 blue mugs (if you choose), but also has a ring on the back for hanging. It’s 12×12 and hooked with recycled t-shirts!

 

Filling the Etsy Shop

Unfortunately, because I was so busy getting ready for and then actually doing the vending of October and November, I’ve had little to no time to devote to my Etsy shop. I was even forgetting to take down items that sold “in person.” Finally got around to that just before heading up to Santa Fe for the Fall Fiber Fiesta. In fact, I was in such a tizzy that day, that I initially deleted the wrong rug! With no time to put it back up, I hoped desperately to sell it that weekend. And you know what? Sometimes desperate prayers work! A lovely volunteer bought it. Now, though, I’m in the midst of putting up those items that didn’t sell at various shows. If you know someone who’d like to give a rug a forever home, send them here. There are all kinds of sizes and prices. And remember, every little rug deserves a home!

ATHA Biennial Favors

Because the Adobe Wool Arts Guild (AWAG) here in Albuquerque is so close – out west, eight hours is considered close – the Denver guild putting on next August’s ATHA Biennial asked us if we might help out a bit with an item to be included in the swag bag. We agreed, of course, and now I owe them some hooking. Vending put me behind the other AWAG members who will now laugh at my hurry-up attempts this week at our three-day retreat. See if I make them brownies…

 

Hooked rug on Anderson frame. Now that vending is finished, I can work on it.
I walk by this poor rug all day long. In the kitchen I try to sit with my back to him, but I can still hear him calling. “You promised we’d be together today…” The truth is that I long to sit and work on him more than any other rug. (But don’t tell that to “Kleeful” below.

 

The BIG Rug

Still languishing on the Anderson frame, shooting daggers every time I walk through the dining room, which is nothing more than the area next to my kitchen in my open-concept home, is the BIG Boucherouite of which I’ve hooked nothing but some outlining. Working on him is far more imperative now what with Albuquerque’s Fiber Fiesta (not to be confused with Santa Fe’s Fall Fiber Fiesta; ours is MUCH bigger and more educational in nature) right around the corner. Big Boucherouite is to be my primary entry. By the way, anyone, including YOU, can enter multiple pieces of fiber art; there are several categories. We receive stuff from folks all over, even Europe! But the important take-away is that entries are due online by March 1. Check out the Call for Entries here.

Unfinished Projects

You know, before I moved from Massachusetts to New Mexico, I never allowed myself to start a new rug before I finished the one I was working on. That went to crap pretty quickly out here as I started vending and taking annual workshops with AWAG, let alone doing commissions. Mats are always bumping others in my now not so insignificant queue of UFOs. Really, I’m not particularly happy about that, but it seems to be a fact of life these days. One day…

So, you see, vending is over but more work remains. Fortunately, I love my work! Maybe hemming a rug up not so much. But it’s getting colder even here in New Mexico, so the timing’s good. Oh, except for Christmas is in less than a month! Time to de-autumn the house and trim a tree. It never ends…

Dog and stuffed opossum sitting on unfinished hooked rug.
Tynan and his new best friend Opossum (thank you, Nan Huntington!) bring you this week’s “What’s on the frame.” Still working on “Kleeful.” Oddly enough I’m working on its (wide) perimeter before I fully decide on the small inner squares. I figure that it ought to be real fun when I try to hook those center squares what with the heaviness of the t-shirt loops. Not!

 

 

Are you like so many of the rug hookers I’ve seen on Facebook and Instagram this week who already have their trees up and their houses looking like Santa’s home up at the North Pole? How? Already? Maybe you’d like to come do my house too…

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What’s on the frames this week

 

What's on the frames beside the Big Boucherouite and Tynan?
Tynan presents one of the “rugs on the frame” this week. As you can see, I managed to get around the whole perimeter of the “Big Boucherouite.” Woohoo! Unfortunately, it has to take a back seat to the rug below. But I’m getting more excited the farther I get with it. Soon color!

Sure, “what’s on the frames this week,” but more like “what’s not happening this week?” Too much stuff is breaking as I get ready to take my first vacation with Tom for the first time in, like, 10 or 11 years! And it’s a good vacation, made more special because it’s the year of our 25th wedding anniversary (long gone by back in January). But more on that another time.

Just take in all these things I have to get done this week :

 

What's on the frames? A new "Woof" rug.
Look familiar? Yep, it’ll be an almost-clone of “Woof.” A lady saw the original in my Etsy shop but didn’t want the OD green background that I hooked in. She prefers a blue-based background. Perfect for last week’s Fourth of July holiday judging by the great pic of her pups that she sent. All SIX! were decked out in red, white, and blue and had American flags. Gotta love the dogs!

 

I won’t bother you any with any more specifics, but I’ll show you the other rug that’s on the frame this week. How’s your summer going? Busy???

 

 

 

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Current state of affairs…always hooking…

Damn, I wrote that headline and realized that it looked vaguely political, something I try to avoid on social media especially these days. At least the freaking election is finally over, and we can only wait to see what January will bring. In the meantime, the holidays are rushing at us like there’s no tomorrow. A portend? (Sorry. I said I wouldn’t say anything political. I won’t.) And there is hooking, always hooking.

The bag is burlap, about 6 inches by 6 inches. It's hooked with wool yarn, ribbon, and stretch velvet. Very cute.
The bag is burlap, about 6 inches by 6 inches. It’s hooked with wool yarn, ribbon, and stretch velvet. And a little pearl. Very cute, if I do say so myself.

So, what am I working on these days (always hooking)?  In hopes that I’ll get a call from the waiting list at the Rail Yards for the holiday market next month, I’m still creating rug mugs. I’ve also come up with a new item; it’ll be a great stocking stuffer, gift card holder, hostess gift, or little girl’s purse. Here’s a pic of the prototype. Like it?

I plan on filling them with candy canes for Christmas time and maybe some faux flowers or something next spring. The bags are from Hobby Lobby, too inexpensive for me to bother making. The hooking’s a bit tricky since there’s no frame involved, just your hand to stick in and hold it all. (I don’t know how Rachelle LeBlanc hooks without a frame ALL THE TIME and then gets those beautiful results.)

Albuquerque’s Fiber Fiesta is also keeping me busy and not just because I’m a guild rep to the Fiber Arts Council. I think I know what I want to create for next May’s show, and I’m doing some research, though I’m not ready to share just yet. But I better get a move on as it has to be pretty much finished by the March 1 entry deadline. For those who are interested, the Call-For-Entries is open and waiting. Consider joining us.

In between projects, I’m still working on my “fall” tree of life rug, the one I started last month. It’s coming along despite being thrown to the side on a regular basis. Always hooking….

It's about a yard across, t-shirt and bedsheet.
It’s about a yard across, t-shirt and bedsheet.

As an aside, how many of you saw this rug on page 56 of the newest ATHA magazine?

"Kenya FLora and Fauna" hooked and designed by Sylvia Huntington.
“Kenya Flora and Fauna” hooked and designed by Sylvia Huntington.

I was flipping through it the evening my copy came, when I caught sight of “Kenya Flora and Fauna.” That’s really familiar,” I said then looked a little closer. “Ha, I do know this rug!” Nancy Huntington submitted the pic; it’s a large mat that her mother-in-law Sylvia hooked after an adventure in Africa. Nan brought the rug to one of the demonstrations our guild does at the Albuquerque BioPark a couple of months ago. Kids loved it! Here are a couple of close-ups I snapped at the BioPark. (Nancy generously shared the photo above.) Fabulous rug!

Mr. Snake and a giraffe.
Mr. Snake and a giraffe.
A closer view of Sylvia's rug.
A closer view of Sylvia’s rug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your current state of affairs? On your frame, that is.

PS – Before I let you go, for anyone in the general New Mexican area, if you’re in the mood for a field trip this coming weekend (Friday-Sunday), make sure you look into the Santa Fe Fiber Festival brought to us by the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center. My partner in crime, fellow native New Englander and new New Mexican, Melinda, and I are heading up there Saturday. Hope to see you!

 

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