BRINGING ANIMALS TO LIFE

Suitable for Intermediate to Advanced Level

This class is designed for intermediate and advanced, narrow and wide cut rug hookers. The class has a focus on animals’ faces (including humans), fur and feathers, shading and adding depth through perspective. If you want to take a relaxed fun filled class where you can also have a good learning experience this class might be just the one you are looking for.

Biography – Jon Ciemiewicz, New Hampshire

Jon has been hooking mats for the past 17 years and his favorite subjects are wild animals and Native Americans. He started rug hooking as a hobby that could be carried into retirement. His first years of hooking were done without any formal coaching by a teacher. Jon has been providing guidance to rug hookers for the last 13 years at venues throughout the US and Canada. His pieces have been featured in the juried publication CELEBRATIONS and have been awarded best in show at state fairs. To see more of Jon’s
work visit him at www.anajon-rughooking.com.

PICTORIALS CHEZ FRANCOISE

Suitable for Beginner to Advanced Levels

Calling all Frenchy shoppers!!! A course that delights in the creation of pictorials with textured and plaid wools from our favourite recycling store. Help the planet while hooking a masterpiece using discarded wool. Learn to understand the multi-layered nature of different wools. Use linings to dye pastels and bleed cuffs and collars to change colours. Marbleizing, dip dying, and shaving cream can change the wool. How can different textures be manipulated to form water, mountains, fields, or sky. Let’s play and end up with a pictorial that sings.

Biography – Anne Lockhart, Prince Edward Island

A dear friend introduced Anne to rug hooking 15 years ago and she has never looked back. She has traveled to rug schools in Truro, Cornwallis, and Vermont while attending local courses in Amherst and PEI in search of knowledge and inspiration. Hooking has become a very important part of her life and she would like to inspire others to the joy and fellowship of this medium. She has become an avid Frenchy shopper and has fallen in love with recycled wool. Thanks to dye courses there is no such thing as a poisonous plaid.

DESIGNING AND HOOKING YOUR OWN PRIMITIVE RUG

Suitable for Beginner and Intermediate Level

Designing and hooking your own Primitive Rug brings a different and refreshing dimension to the art of rug hooking. It allows hookers to move beyond the material available as printed patterns and use their skills to create rugs that are personal, expressive and unique. In this class, students will create their own design, learn how to dye and hand paint wool. There will be few formulas and no hard and fast rules. You can recycle fibers, use sweaters, rovings and raw wool. Susie specializes in hand cut and ripped wide cuts. This class is for those interested in expressing themselves; enter at your own risk! Her easy going and fun nature will make this a fun class.

Biography—Susie Stephenson, Maine

Susie is a primitive folk artist. Her mother taught her to hook 20 years ago. She hooks alone and has developed a unique primitive style. She finds each part of rug hooking artistic, the recycled clothing, dyeing wool, designing and planning rugs and of course the hooking! She is inspired by children’s drawings, pets, family stories and her experiences growing up in Maine and Nova Scotia. Susie is the author of Designing and Hooking Primitive Rugs, she teaches classes throughout Maine and is passionate about her art.

DYE FOR A PROJECT AND BUILD YOUR COLOUR THEORY CONFIDENCE

Dyeing experience required

Did you know that there are twelve ways to colour plan your project using one base colour? Let’s take what you know and enhance it with various dyeing techniques and colour theory. Together we will colour plan your chosen project and dye your wool for this article. There will be time for you to understand colour planning, dye your materials using different dyeing techniques, maybe start to hook and have your piece underway by the time you leave for home. A Project Book will be used to keep notes on colour composition, colour theory and pertinent information for your project at a cost of $10.00.

Biography – Barbie Baker Dykens – Nova Scotia

Barbie Baker-Dykens, A.N.S.C.A.D., is a Nova Scotia craftsperson, artist, teacher, author and publisher. A graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Barbie has pursued an art career involving a variety of mediums including woven textures and sculptures, creating functional and sculptural forms in wool and/or leather, and painting with wool. She has taught classes in rug hooking and dyeing in the Maritimes and Ontario over the past sixteen years. Barbie has written and published eleven books of instruction on basic dyeing, techniques and color theory for rug hookers, weavers and knitters. Visit Barbie at http://users.eastlink.ca/~fourspears.

LET’S FACE IT

Suitable for Intermediate to Advanced Level

This class will be for all levels, all cuts, originals and patterns are both welcome. My main objective will be to teach the class that faces are not “hard or difficult”. Rather they are like all rug hooking where value placement, contrast, and color allow us to paint with wool. If you can hook a flower you can hook a face. You may blow up a photo and trace off your own pattern or I can do it for you. You can also use a commercial pattern. The size of the face you choose will depend on the cut you wish to use and also the amount of detail you wish to have in your piece. The faces may be realistic or fantasy colors. I will be consulting with everyone in the class right away so that we can be ready to hook on arrival. Bring your own wool, especially cut strips and/or purchase wool from the large stash I will be bringing along. This class will also have fun imagination exercises, storytelling, and laughter at all times.

Biography – Michele Micarelli, Connecticut

Michele Micarelli is a certified rug hooking teacher whose main objective is to unleash creativity. Her classes are full of storytelling, imagination exercises, and laughter. She has been a rug hooker since 1991 and prefers using 4 and 5 cut wool and linen for lots of detail. She started rug hooking because of her childhood memories of rugs her Father hooked. She has had her rugs in several editions of The Celebration of Rug Hooking and has been a judge. Her rugs appear in books by Linda Coughlin, Jessie Turbayne, Mary Sheppherd Burton and Amy Oxford. She has been in several issues of Rug Hooking Magazine with articles that featured her dyeing skills and rugs made with imagination. She has taught workshops in the US and Canada. To see Michele’s work visit her at
www.michelemicarelli.com.

PLAYING WITH PAISLEY

Suitable for Novice and Experienced Levels

Did you know the motif of the Paisley goes back to…..1740? Join us and we will explore the world of Paisley. These Paisley motifs can be in the water or in the sky. Paisley as the petals of flowers, a paisley cat, or the wings of birds, let your imagination go wild…..and of course the paisley motif on its own. There are a multitude of Paisley patterns. We will start by color planning your Paisley mat, whether it is a pictorial or one motif. Depending on your size of pattern and rug, you can use a narrow or wide cut….your choice! We will also experiment with some special stitches and creating a unique border for your mat. Come and be ready to create art that no one has ever seen before.

Biography – Donna Gass, Nova Scotia

Donna gains her inspiration from both her Mum and Nanny, both noted artists. She has been hooking and attending RHGNS schools for 12 years. In 2009 she joined the Teachers Branch of RHGNS and taught at the 2011 Nova Scotia spring school. She recently had her wall hanging chosen to be printed in this year’s Celebration magazine. Donna chairs the “Seaside Matters” in Prospect N.S. “Hooking is what I love to do, come and create with me”.

STORY TELLING RUGS

Suitable for Intermediate to Advanced Level

I love to depict stories in my rugs, so think of a lovely story that is meaningful to you. You can portray it in a rug for prosperity. My example is “A Guiding light”. I helped my Dad when he turned blind .We counted the steps across the roads and between the gas lights so he could memorize them. I know this is nostalgic, but yours could be humorous, a childhood memory, a journey, a family or holiday story. No rules apply, so any size, cut, and any type of fabrics or yarns.

Biography – Heather Ritchie, North Yorkshire, UK

Heather Ritchie is one of Britain’s most experienced rug makers and teachers of rug making. Over 35yrs ago she made her first utilitarian mat to cover the bare stone floors of her Yorkshire cottage. Since then she has developed the craft way beyond the ordinary and her fine –hooked, and richly detailed pictorial work has been called painting with fabric. Heather’s work, with its beautiful landscapes and expressive faces, created using mixed media/ textures/forms and applications has enabled Heather to teach rug making in Australia, the USA and Canada. Heather recently had a book published, Hooked Rug Story Telling, The Art of Heather Ritchie. In 2007 Heather started Rug Aid. This social enterprise operates in The Gambia, West Africa where Heather teaches blind children and adults to make hooked mats .The mat makers sell their creations locally to help provide some income for their families.

TEACHER TRAINING

The purpose of this class is to provide students with the teaching techniques and skills needed to help others learn to hook rugs, and to impart their love of the craft to others. All aspects of teaching will be covered including lesson plans, class preparation, presentations, research, and dealing with problems and ethics. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a teacher, or have started to teach and want to expand your horizons, this class will prepare you to become an effective rug hooking teacher. While this course IS a requirement for teaching certification in the Teachers Branch of the RHGNS, it is not limited to same and is open to anyone interested in developing their teaching skills.

Biography – Celia Charlton, Nova Scotia

Celia has been a member of the RHGNS Teacher’s Branch since 1999. She has taught at the guild schools in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and courses in New Brunswick, England and Ontario. She has taught week-long courses in Wild Women, Folk Art, Underwater World, Geometrics and Mixed Cut Pictorials, and does workshops in dyeing, geometrics, proddy, hooking with yarn, rovings and using alternative fibers. She has a keen interest in hooking as an art form. She is also a member of TIGHR.

YOU CHOOSE – WE DO

Suitable for all skill levels

In this class you may choose to bring one or more unfinished projects or you may wish to do a pattern that doesn’t fit with other offered courses at the school. You may have problems with a piece and we will try to solve them. You may simply want to finish a piece in the company of other hookers and learn from our discussions of various styles. You may use any commercially designed pattern or create one of your own designs. You can choose any subject area and use any cut from # 2
-#9 or hand cut. The variety of students’ choices set the stage. I hope to be in touch with students well before class time in order to prepare notes, hints and techniques. Questions and dialogue are encouraged in this class. It is open to all levels of rug hookers.

Biography – Iris Simpson, Ontario

Iris Simpson, an educator by trade and a hooker by choice, loves hooking and teaching at schools and workshops in Canada, the U.S. and England. She is an Ontario Hooking Craft Guild and McGown certified teacher, holds a Fibre Arts-Traditional Rug Hooking Certificate from St. Lawrence College, and is a certified Oxford Punch Needle teacher. Iris enjoys all aspects of rug hooking, from mini-pictorials in a #2 cut to Primitives in a #9 cut. She values close communication with students ahead of, during and even after class. Iris is well versed in all styles and subjects and loves to share information and fun! Her latest work combines hooking with punch needle for an interesting effect.

WILLIAM MORRIS: A DESIGNER FOR ALL TIME

Suitable for Intermediate to Advanced Levels

Take a trip back in time with me to the eighteen hundreds; we will create works of beauty inspired by this remarkable man’s designs for tapestries, tiles, stained glass, wall paper etc. I encourage you to create a pattern in the Wm Morris style. My student letter to you will include dye formulas, list of copyright-free books, and pattern suggestions. We will have dye demonstrations during the week. Although not a lot of intricate shading is involved, shading will be taught using wide and narrow cut wool flannel [new or reclaimed] or yarns. Hooking techniques, fun and learning will be emphasized. Join me, William and his artsy friends as we listen to relaxing music and stories of the period while studying design and colour. Course is open to anyone with some hooking experience, wishing to share and to be inspired to create tomorrow’s heirlooms.

Biography – Doris Norman, New Brunswick

Doris Norman is a skilled artisan and instructor who enjoys sharing her passion for rug hooking with others. She encourages students to relax and enjoy the process of creating an heirloom to be passed down to future generations. Doris teaches rug hooking courses at schools and workshops across the United States and Canada. She is an accredited Nova Scotia and Pearl McGown Teacher specializing in Celtic Art, William Morris Design, Mayan/Peruvian Art, Jacobean/Crewel, Pictorial, as well as other aspects of the craft. Recently Doris has renewed her interest in hooking with various fabrics both old and new, and has taught courses in mixed media at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design and the edVentures , a vacation learning program. Her work has been featured in Canadian Living Magazine, Rug Hooking Magazine, Hook Me a Story by Deanne Fitzpatrick and is included in the New Brunswick Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s Permanent collection as well as other collections.

ON YOUR OWN

Suitable for any hooker

This class is best suited for the rug hooker who wishes to experience the camaraderie of Rug School without taking a formal class.