Last week I attended Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week. Because I didn’t register for any of the retreats or classes, I spent three days taking in the various exhibits and hooking and meeting folks I’ve only communicated with through Zoom or social media. That was a great thing, the best of my SV experience. I must admit that I did very little hooking, LOL. Hey, I’m sociable!
I chose to attend SV this year because last fall I’d been asked to serve as a judge for Rug Hooking Magazine’s Celebration 33. And Susan Feller had coaxed me to leave the HOT Southwestern desert with an offer of rooming with her. Other than on Zoom, I hadn’t met with Susan since a big rug show in Connecticut in 2014. Win!
Of course, I had to get to Archbold, Ohio. Given clothing and the frame and other hooking “stuff,” I opted to drive. That’s 23 hours on the road, not counting food-, tea-, and pee-stops. Sleep too! But I really don’t mind driving and seeing the country. And Pandora follows me wherever I go, so I had tunes.
Given that I wasn’t participating in classes, I think that I might have had a difficult time finding my bearings if Susan hadn’t acted as my Obi Wan. We had work to do too. We’re in the midst of recruiting teachers and lecturers for In the Studio Online’s Workshop Week 2024 (in February). It was nice to have someone who knows through and through the who, what, where, when, and how of SV and Rug Hooking Week.
The night before the show opened to the public, we classroom-hopped seeing what the retreat students were creating. It was an excellent way to “run in” to folks too.
Of course, the rug show and special exhibits were quite amazing. Certainly, there was fabulous artistry and quality hooking to be seen. As I walked into the hall, I was pleasantly surprised to see my own WHIMSY hanging right at the front of the Celebrations exhibit. Which is the very first thing you see! The three of us judges were encouraged to send in rugs to hang with the finalists’ pieces. Seeing the scale and the true colors of the rugs I’d assessed in January using online pictures was eye-opening.
Meeting Remi Levesque of Nova Scotia, the mastermind of the USA50 Hooked Cushions was perhaps my favorite part of the entire trip. (I had hooked the New Mexico cushion.) Remi is…delightful! Susan and I went out for Mexican with him and another new Canadian friend. He was on top of the moon as his exhibit had won the Sauder Award earlier in the week.
There were several special exhibits: Inspired Vessels, Amish Rugs, Rugs by Theodore Sizer, the USA50 Cushions, and Lift Every Voice. More on that last one in a bit. Then there were guild challenges, group exhibits, a display of Cushing’s Duncan rugs in all kinds of color combos, the Golden Age of Fairy Tale rugs, rugs that had been entered into the show in various categories (floral, braiding, miniature punch needle, Orientals, originals, and so on). There were 3-D rugs and applique and “fusion.” To tell you the truth, there were so many things to see that I suffered “rug fatigue.” I’d turn a corner and there’d be something I missed the previous day. In the end, I don’t think that I saw everything.
And don’t forget, ringing the show, were all kinds of vendors. If you needed wool, you’d come to the right place. I still get a little itchy just thinking about it. (I am allergic to wool, though I still use it in some of my work.)
One of the exhibits stood out for more than its artistry. Other than Kris McDermet‘s “Privilege,” there were few pieces that highlighted social issues. Most were decorative, which isn’t wrong, certainly, but I do value art that is beautiful and well done and challenges me in some way. I can truly appreciate all the work that goes into creating a large, hooked Oriental to use on the floor or a gorgeous landscape to put on the wall. But our world is troubled; art that I see or make should – at least sometimes – help me make sense of it.
The Lift Every Voice exhibit wildly moved me and others who took the time to read the texts that accompanied the artwork. Most visitors did not. Of those who did, some actually cried, especially when they got to Deirdre Pinnock‘s piece. Maddy Fraioli coordinated this exhibit, and all contributions were based on Elizabeth Catlett‘s own prose (third paragraph below).
Fourteen American and Canadian women, spanning the continent from Nova Scotia to Seattle and Vancouver collaborated on hooking the series of fifteen block prints that artist Elizabeth Catlett first produced in Mexico City in 1947. During the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, of the 14 artists, 6 of us are black, 2 of us are Canadian, and the remaining 8 are white and from the U.S. We found common bonds of purpose and passion during the period of time that we worked to complete our rugs
We met on zoom, chose the prints through lottery, discussed the artist, and reflected on how we might approach our hooked pieces so that they accurately reflected on what Ms. Catlett had conveyed over 70 years ago when she first produced this collection of social justice block prints. We recognized that Ms. Catlett’s’ images and message resonate as much now as they did then.
“I am the black woman. I have always worked hard in America, in the fields, in other folks’ homes. I have given the world my songs. In Sojourner Truth I fought for the rights of women as well as Blacks. In Harriet Tubman I helped hundreds to freedom. In Phyliss Wheatley I proved intellectual equality in the midst of slavery. I have studied with ever increasing numbers. My role has been important in the struggle to organize the unorganized. My reward has been bars between me and the rest of the land. I have special reservations, and a special fear for my loved ones. My right is a future of equality with other Americans.”
-Elizabeth Catlett
Deirdre’s piece is of a lynching. She had this to say about the print she chose:
I originally chose three pieces that I liked from the collection. I had no intention of following through on rug hooking a lynching. At the time I was being righteous in trying to find my way to voice: “I am the BLM movement” and that I’m not okay with the six lynching’s that occurred in the USA in 2020-2021.This image was subliminally at rest in my head, and now it is real… it’s in my hand. So, what else could I do but give this man back his voice, to give him dignity and show him kindness. Give him Life.
Note the Life in the grass and lively yellow flowers, his bright bloody red shoe bottom, a crisp clean white shirt, baby pink open hand, and the Dapper Dan purple socks… all wrapped in silken golden lasso that I made with laboured respect.
Through the creation of this piece, I experienced traumatizing tearful moments. I did find my joy after letting myself rest and letting the piece rest for several months — it was necessary. I reprimanded myself to get back to giving this man his dignity. I did this through my colour schemes. Please note he is lynched on one side of the canvas and not the other side again giving him LIFE! This work should hang with both sides evident to the public. I’m so proud of myself for completing this work through all my trepidation, inner battles, self-doubt, and even the anger that I, the Woman of Colour, was faced to do this lynching piece out of Catlett’s collection.
In conclusion, racial diversity in rug hooking is missing. The honour to work with art by a Black woman artist was a thrill. After 22 years of doing Rughooking, I’ve only met two rug hookers of colour, and one of them is me. We’re both in Canada paying homage to a woman that was not given a seat at the table in 1950’s America. In 2023, the sisterhood of rug hookers gave me a seat at the table. I present this work to the Rughooking community that proves that change has come and it’s here to stay. This piece will start the conversation for a need in diversity of people and of art. I believe it’s truly needed in the crafting of Rughooking; is not just crafting anymore; it’s a place to have a voice, to be brave, and truly never give up on one’s art no matter how controversial or Vincent van Gogh – traumatizing it may be. I’ve kept my ear through it all.”
Sadly, this display is so very timely today given our current events. You can read all about each piece in Rug Hooking Magazine‘s January/February, 2023, issue. Or see where the exhibit’s off to next.
Lift Every Voice as well as the demographics of Rug Hooking Week participants and viewers made it very clear how our rug hooking community lacks diversity – of skin color, of age, of income, and of gender. While there’s nothing wrong with being an older, white woman, if that describes us all (and it pretty much does), our art is going to disappear as we disappear. Of course, it’s not just hooking; many fiber art organizations suffer from the same problem. I’m 59; in my guild there’s one woman who’s 58. We’re the “babies.”
When I walk into Sauder Village, I should see the past, present, and future of rug hooking. I don’t see the future, the young folks who are experimenting with punch needle and even tufting. Maybe they learned how to punch on YouTube. Maybe they don’t bind a rug like we do or follow the “rules.” But we need those people to keep our art viable and relevant in coming decades. I suspect they’re not too interested in primitive patterns or many of the themes we saw in the rugs at Sauder this year. Let’s invite them and ask them what and how they make art on their monk’s cloth or linen. Let’s learn about each other. There’s room enough in rug hooking for all of us.
