More Western Fibre Arts

Since my gig out west was brought to me by Focus on Fibre Arts Alberta - versus just a rug hooking guild - it stands to reason that there were lots of other fibre arts around to see. Incredible fibre art and not only as eye candy, but truly inspirational for someone itching to try something new.

There was lot of "show and tell" in class, as people brought in some of their other fibre arts to share. Here are a few - pretty amazing.

This felted cat was shared by Charis.

Pieced and stitched beautifully by Karen.

Another of Karen's pieces - pieced fibre and hooking.

An amazing pieced and stitched piece of canola fields by Armande.

In an earlier post, I shared some of the winners in the Prairies show. I was lucky enough to see the real deal on one of my days off and took some photos of some of the pieces. Then realized that they are all professionally captured on the FFAA website. Here is a link so you can go and see for yourself.  You will be glad  you went, trust me.

As with every show, it is so much better to see the actual show. Some pieces were just mind-boggling when you saw them in person, and it was amazing to see all the different fibre arts displayed together.

It is a hooked piece by Lynn Roth (not Faye Swenson as per the credit on the website). It is called "Blizzard" and it is hooked deer in the headlights during a swirling blizzard. Notice the windshield wiper and the seat belt, as well as the red metal window frame. The needle felted swirls of snow are amazing. It was a very powerful piece when you saw it in real life.

Every detail of this exhibit was steeped in talent and stitchery.  This is one of the fibre posters at the entrance to the show. Even they were quilted!!

And as if this was not enough to totally whet my appetite for a bunch of new endeavours, I was the lucky recipient of two pieces that are outside the rug hooking zone - wet felting and detailed stitchery and box making.

An incredible felted bag made by registrar Vicki. I love everything about it.
It is the twin to her bag that I admired so much. Lucky me!!

A little fabric covered paper box, hand stitched and assembled by Jean,
who excels at every fibre art known to man. Every little kernel is outlined.

Before I close this post, here was another western phenomenon that I really loved.
Worm sharing!!! In both workshops, people brought big containers full of worms and offered them to all in the group to use at will.

Definitely food for thought of doing a workshop that is just about using worms. No lack of choice here.

Pretty Impressive Impressionistic Mats

The second workshop in Edmonton was called "Hooking in an Impressionistic Style". Each student was asked to choose a painting - in the public domain or with permission - that they would interpret in wool.

Van Gogh was a popular choice. Lawren Harris was interpreted in a fun and youthful way. A new-to-me Canadian artist's painting was exquisite, both in the original and in the mat version. A colourful cat painting by another artist I didn't know before came to life.

Some of the most fun works in the class were those from far less recognized artists - with a more personal connection.

Two sister students did paintings that had been painted by one of them.  Two other people brought "grand" art - created by their grandchildren. And two more brought paintings that had a personal connection in their lives. One was a family homestead painted by a relative. The other was a friend's colourful painting of a horse - again, perfect for this class.

As with the first workshop, this class ranged in experience from rookie to expert. And many of the previous class were in this one too - 9 out of 13. That made it nice for me, since I got to spend even more time getting to know them.

So enough chatter. Here are the ones that are finished (or nearly). The rest will be posted as I receive them.

Artist: Ken Gillespie (with permission) 

(A little note re this painting. Because the student was travelling in Europe with spotty wifi, I contacted the artist on her behalf. He was so thrilled to be asked and enthusiastically said yes. He said he is sick and tired of seeing his images on everything from paper napkins to playing cards. It was a pleasant change for him to even be approached.)

Here is a Van Gogh well under way. Can't wait to see it done. It's amazing when you look at the images on line of these famous works - the colour range is unbelievable.

This feline got a new background and foreground, but still retained its 'catitiude'.

Another Van Gogh, done by the newest hooker in the class. She was so excited to get it done - with 5 minutes to spare on the last day. She definitely captured the directional hooking of the brush strokes.

Here is Chagall's "Cow with Parasol", as interpreted by 5-year old Theo, and then hooked by his very proud grandmother.

The other budding artist, Josephine's original and her grandmother's hooked rendering. A very accomplished knitter, Arlene is relatively new to rug hooking, but you sure can't tell.

A horse of a different colour - quite a few, actually, as the original painting and as the mat. Cathy's first passion is quilting, but she sure did a great job on this mat.

Two more pieces that were well under way by the end of class. These pictures were both painted by Louise.  She and her sister Laurie were two of the students who did multiple mats in the first class. So they went much larger this time and the pieces are going to be stunning. Lots of talent in that family. Here is Louise's lobster.

And Laurie's very handsome and regal raven.

(The little blue patch (I think it is a cat) in the bottom of Laurie's mat is what happens when you leave the room - someone hooks something into your open space. Kind of like being "hook bombed".)

As you can see, it was an incredibly talented group. It was the first time I taught this class and it will be at the top of my list for years to come. So much variety and inspiration from the artists long dead and very much alive.

I will share the rest as they hit my desktop.

The Afterglow of Edmonton

Back home in my studio, surrounded by piles of things that still need to be dealt with, I am chomping at the bit to share the amazing time I had. It will take a few posts to do it all.

Everything about the experience surpassed my expectations! It was a little scary going into a strange place to do two workshops back to back, and I must say I was a bit apprehensive. But once that snowball started rolling down the hill, it gathered speed and the two weeks passed much too quickly.

The people were so friendly - kind of like Western Maritimers lol. They entertained me on my break days and many came to support me at my Lecture at The Royal Albert Museum - another adventure to be sure.

The first workshop - Photo to Mat - was held in an unusual venue to say the least. We were in the Igloo Room at Commonwealth stadium. This is the club house of the Edmonton Eskimos. Big, bright with a window onto the field. After a few of the team helped carry our stuff down some stairs on day one, we got to watch them practice. Here are a few shots of the view:

Ahead of the class, all the students had sent me their photos that they wanted to work with. I used two of the programs that I would share in class to do two things. First I used befunky (my personal favourite photo editor) to create a painterly sketch of their image. Then I used Paintbrush to do a colour plan for each image.

Since both workshops were sponsored by Focus on Fibre Arts Alberta (FFAA), there were a number of fibre artists in the room for whom rug hooking was not their first discipline. There were others who are masterful hookers, certified teachers, and basically speed demons. Some finished more than two projects while in class - they were smoking!!

One student introduced me to Tambour stitchery, which I hadn't seen before. Here is the picture that she chose for the class.

And here is what her mat looked like by the time I left.  I am hoping to get a picture of the finally embellished piece. And I hope to try this technique in the near future.

Jean, the creator of this piece, is a major force behind the FFAA and the workshops. She is a wonderful, warm person who ferried me to class every day, made sure that my every need and want was looked after and someone who is talented in so many ways, it would be impossible to name them all. She does every fibre art, it seems, and incredibly well. Both her talent and her heart are HUGE.

Here are some other photos with the finished mats from class. Everyone has promised to share their finished pieces, so I will wait for the others before sharing.

Here is Fritz, Laurie's wonderful equine friend. I am showing the original photo and the finished piece (not yet blocked and whipped).

After she finished this piece, she did a picture of someone's cat (I think her niece).

Her sister Laurie who is an artist and an equally prolific rug hooker, chose this picture of her cat "Picatso" for her first piece.

And when he was done, she whipped up this crow/raven in a colourful palette.

This interesting image of icebergs was completed in three days by Janet, another speed demon.

Sheila, a rookie hooker, chose this flower picture to adapt. And she finished all the hooking in class.

this is the befunky image.

Cec adapatd a picture of her fun folk art deck (created by her husband), Jerry. Her palette, I quickly discovered, is bright and cheery - just like she is. We spent a fun day at West Edmonton Mall and she treated Jean and myself to a wonderful dinner.

Faye chose to do a painting instead of a photo for this first class. A very accurate adaptation of a card she received from a friend.

I will show the rest of the work when the students get finished, but they were all off to a great start and all promised to share photos when they are done.

I apologize for not being more vigilant in the picture taking because after taking initial ones to check values on the computer, I neglected to take pictures of the ones that weren't yet finished.

Posts to follow about non-hooking work that was shared plus the amazing Fibre Arts show I got to see. And the Impressionism class photos.

Turkey Dinner Done and Dusted

It was a great weekend with both kids and their partners plus Jackson. Weather cooperated enough for nice long walks on the road. I don't remember ever seeing so many other walkers on a Thanksgiving weekend.

Now the turkey leftovers are all gone and I am packing my bags for my big trek to Edmonton to teach two rug hooking workshops. I was contacted by the Focus on Fibre Arts Association In November 2012 to see if I would be interested in coming there to teach.  Our rug hooking community sure does plan in advance. After nearly two years in the making (lol) I will be heading there on Thursday to start the first class on Friday.

I am teaching my Photo to Mat class the first week and have received very interesting images from the students for this class. A lot of my pre-work is done, so we should be ready to get hooking right away, and I will teach all the little computer shortcuts I use during class.

The second class is Hooking in an Impressionist style and again, very different selections for their pieces. I was surprised to find that 10 of the students are taking both classes. I hope they aren't sick of me by the time it is all over.

It appears there are some very very talented hookers in my classes.  Here is a link to the entries in their 2014 juried Prairies Competition. Fortunately for me, the entire show will still be hanging while I am there and I will get to see it.

Here are the rug hooking entries. Karen is not in the class. Her group exhibit is hanging  in the Niagara Pump House in Niagara-on-the-Lake until the end of November. But the rest are.

Heading West by Karen Miller

Moose by Janet McLean (Best of Category)

Prairie Landscape by Laurie Wiles (Best of Show)

Sunflowers by Laurie Wiles

Autumn Work by Faye Swenson

Blizzard by Lynn Roth

I have not been to Edmonton since I was 21 and on my way to the Yukon. I was flying stand by and got bumped there. Spent 3 days at the YWCA before getting my next flight out. Needless to say, that was "quite a few" years ago. This is a fun reason for a visit and through all the email preparations and correspondence, I feel like I already know this group.

Will try to post progress while I am there.