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.
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!
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.
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, Cathyand 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.
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!)
So, because 
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…