18th Annual Santa Fe Spring Festival: Featuring Lavender and Fiber Art!
Celebrate Spring with our Spring Festival: Featuring Herb & Lavender, and the opening of our 2023 season! Learn about New Mexico’s rich cultural heritage through an array of fun activities and demonstrations. Experience traditional New Mexican ranch activities like sheep shearing, spinning and weaving, plus a fiber arts marketplace featuring local artisans and craftsmen, horno bread baking, crafts for children, and more!
-https://golondrinas.org/
We here at High on Hooking hope that you can make it up to El Rancho de las Golondrinas (just sounth of Santa Fe) to celebrate the start of summer here on New Mexico’s high desert. I’ll be sharing a booth with Barbara Knupper, weaver and jewelry maker extraordinaire. You can find her art at the Artful Artisan.
We invite you to peruse our wares and enjoy the atmosphere of the Spring Festival on the ranch! Bring the whole family!
PS – To those, like me, who might be from New England, Las Golondrinas is kind of like a more primitive Sturbridge Village, southwest style:
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.
-https://golondrinas.org/
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!
I know I’m late to the party congratulating Karen Miller of Ontario on the release of her new book The Art of Mothering: Our Lives in Colour and Shadow, but I will NOT be the last, I guarantee you.
Karen’s book, published by Rug Hooking Magazine, came out in October. I think I received my copy in early November. Unfortunately, I’ve been très busy the past month, so I’ve only been able to scan through it thus far, but with the holidays almost here, I’m hoping to sit down soon and pore over it – no interruptions!
It’s a beautiful book, certainly, filled with all kinds of art. It’s vivid and colorful as it shines a light on how female artists have dealt with not just the topic of motherhood, but its actuality.
From the back cover:
Motherhood has been the richest experience of Karen Miller’s life. It has also inescapably changed her life trajectory: her career path, her energy levels, her commitments, her time, her marriage. It has affected everything. Join Karen as she and 21 contributing artists lift the lid on motherhood and peer inside to examine the reality of their lives through textile arts.
The Art of Motherhood: Our Lives in Colour and Shadow illuminates the feelings that so few of us talk about – but so many of us feel – as we navigate the journey that is motherhood.
“Rejection,” 14′ x 17.5″, hooked on monk’s cloth with wool strips and yarn, is one of my pieces in Karen’s book.
Karen’s known for a long time that being a mother hasn’t always been the best of experiences for me, so when she asked me to contribute to the book, I jumped at the chance. It’s always stuck up my craw sideways that women rarely feel comfortable being honest about motherhood and what it does to us. Even in a group of just women! How dare we speak up about not feeling quite like the Madonna and her perfect Child. News flash: I’m no Madonna and it took a lot of alcohol to get through my only kid’s high school years. (Those years made the previous 14 look like an f-ing picnic.) But after fertility problems and two miscarriages over two years, no one wanted a kid as much as I did. And I have no regrets. (Most of the time.)
“Holes,” 68″ x 33″, hooked on monk’s cloth with recycled textiles and silk sari ribbon. I’ve talked about this piece before.
That’s the kind of candid crap you’ll find in this book though in a much more eloquent form, LOL. And LOTS OF FIBER ART, hooked and otherwise. If you’re a mom or know a mom or ever had a mom, get thee online to order this book. It’d make a kick-ass and thoughtful Christmas or other type of gift. I promise. You can order from RHM HERE. If you’re in Canada, contact Karen through her website.
PS- Not all moms are biologic. And mother figures count as moms.
FYI-
Below is a list of the Instagram handles of all the artists who, in some way affected by motherhood, contributed work to Karen’s truly excellent book. Check out their work.
Karen Miller: @karendmillerstudio
Nadine Flagel: @pretextstudio
Meryl Cook: @merylcook
Laura Salamy: @highonhooking
Emily van Lidth de Jeude: @emilyvanartist
Jane Smith: @blogginthebay
April Deconick: @aprildeconickart
Linda Friedman Schmidt: @lindafriedmanschmidt
Rachelle Leblanc: @rachelle_leblanc_art
Trish Johnson: @trshjhnsn
Patti Colen: @woollycronedesigns
Alexandrya Eaton: @alexandryaeaton
Michelle Kingdom: @michelle.kingdom
Carmen Bohn: @carmenbohn_art
Elizabeth Miller: @northatlanticfiberarts
Ellen Skea Marshall: @twocatsanddoghooking
Amy Meissner: @amymeissnerartist
Michele Micarelli: @michelepmicarelli
Linda Rae Coughlin: @lindarae_coughlin
Sayward Johnson: @saywardjohnson
Lori Laberge: @lorilabergeart
Karen Larsen: I don’t believe Karen is on Ig but she is on fb
I’ve always maintained that September 1 is just as much a new year as January 1. You have a holiday and then you give yourself permission to start over. Maybe it’s a school year, your health, a job, or just a way of looking at life. In my case this September of 2022, it’s health and working on a new perspective. (And don’t get me wrong, I think renewal goes on all through the year, it’s just more celebrated in January and September.)
It’s no secret that I have autoimmune issues. Fibromyalgia was just added to the mix. I shouldn’t have been surprised; it explains so much. But so often when you’re busy, you work with the data that you have. When you’re in your late 50s, you don’t go looking for more things to go wrong with the chasse. Actually, I’m in pretty good shape, I think. Nonetheless, I could be doing better, especially regarding stress and sleep. I need more of one and less of the other. Bet you can guess which is which. LOL
I decided, therefore, that I’m taking a bit of a sabbatical from many of my local responsibilities for two whole months! I’d like to say that I’m making the months all about Laura all the time, but that’s not the case. It would also be très boring. Even to me! No, in less than a week my parents are making their second trip in six years to New Mexico from Connecticut. They’ll be here for 16 days. We’ll be doing some touristy things and even heading up to Colorado for a few days. They’ve never been there. After they leave, I’ll be teaching hooking and punching at the Mountain and Valley Wool Festival in Santa Fe. That takes us into October when Tom and I and a dog or two will take to the open road for Seattle. The kid’s now been there for three months; it’s time for a visit. And while I once spent a weekend in that area years and years ago, I never got a chance to really see it. This is an opportunity, too, to add a few missing states to my repertoire. I’ve never been to Utah (other than Four Corners), Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon.
By the time we get back, it’ll be Workshop Week 5 and even Halloween. Then the holidays and… You see why I need a break?
But I’ll be around online, certainly, and in touch with folks. Being away always lets me refresh, see things in a new way, and be inspired. All of which usually allows for some new and exciting artwork. At least to and for me. Perhaps for others as well.
PLACES WHERE YOU DEFINITELY CAN FIND ME THIS FALL INTO WINTER
Mountain and Valley Wool Festival (MAVWA): September 29 – October 2 The festival is Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2, but the workshops happen the Thursday and Friday before. I’m teaching Thursday. Find info HERE. BTW, if you’re thinking of coming for MAVWA, know that it’s the start of Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. Think 500 hot air balloons in the air at one time. Pictures and words can’t do it justice.
In the Studio Online Workshop Week 5: October 23 – 30
While I’m not teaching this time around, I am the general administrator, so if you need a catalog or have questions, please give a yell. We have eight great teachers and workshops scheduled. If you’re just realizing you forgot to register, now’s the time. Some classes have filled, but teachers have waiting lists, and some have already scheduled second sessions. More info HERE.
High Desert Studio Tour – December 3 After missing two or three years, the High Desert Studio Tour is back! As in the past, I’ll be camped out at the home of ZiaWoolz. Dagmar generously invites myself and a few other artists to hang our shingles out with hers for the day. If you’re looking for some gorgeous, hand-dyed yarn, check out her Etsy shop, or better yet, visit us in December.
The boys bring you a HAPPY NEW YEAR WHAT’S ON THE FRAME this week. THE REZ is hooked on monk’s cloth with old t-shirts, wool strips, and wool yarn. So far…
View our CALENDARpage to see more dates to be added as we go further into the fall.
The boys and I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR, a cooler fall, and success with all your efforts at renewal!
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?
Celebrate Spring with our Spring Festival: Featuring Herb & Lavender, and the opening of our 2023 season! Learn about New Mexico’s rich cultural heritage through an array of fun activities and demonstrations. Experience traditional New Mexican ranch activities like sheep shearing, spinning and weaving, plus a fiber arts marketplace featuring local artisans and craftsmen, horno bread baking, crafts for children, and more!
