DISCUSSING DESIGN AT A RUG HOOKING RETREAT

I'm putting up what I can this week.  Internet access has been sporadic this week on the road.

Susan Feller hosted Retreat into the Mountains last weekend in a beautiful wooded setting.  We received our exercise by walking to a waterfall, relaxed and hooked while sitting in rocking chairs on the porch and received large doses of inspiration by sharing our thoughts on 

design. 

One of many beautiful views on our walks.

I recently wrote an article on plein air for RugBeat Magazine’s April issue and had the chance to speak about composition in plein air at the retreat. Susan spoke on her year long project creating daily five inch squares in a monthly format, Karen Larson shared her graphic design background along with her design process, Nancy Parcels shared the design aspect of a hooked barn, Tracy Granger showed us work created by the blind along with work from the Rug Aid Project and Beth Tembo brought photos of kuba cloth which inspired her latest creation.

What always intrigues me about meeting a group like this is the variety of interests and enthusiasm for all aspects of rug hooking.  One can be so energized and excited to return to the studio and create.

Here are a few of the pieces showing the variety of hooking genres seen and/or discussed at the retreat:

Geometric -- Beth Tembo

Modern textural -- Liz Gordon

Large floral -- Shirley Hairston

Architectural -- Karen Larson

Realism -- Nancy Parcels 

Year long project -- Susan Feller

Contemporary color -- Deb Smith

Deb is editor of Rug Hooking Magazine, which can be found here.

There was a true appreciation for the direction each of the members took with their work.  Explore where you are headed with your art, narrow down your real interests, be true to yourself and have a great day.

If anyone mentioned here has a website or blog I missed, please email me at lorilaberge@gmail.com and I will update with your info.