Eric Sandberg: Class of 2023

Name: Eric Sandberg
Location: Onancock, Virginia

How did you get involved in rug hooking?
After doing needlework for 25 years, I picked up an old rug hooking book at a flea market and thought, “There’s only one stitch here. I could do this.” I was self-taught for two years until I found my home teacher, Jane Olson, who I studied with for many years. I got my McGown Teaching Certificate in 1997, the first man to be certified in the program. I think choosing your own colors was the main draw for me. I have been involved in many aspects of the needle arts for over 50 years. I started with needlepoint at age 15 and progressed from there. I have now been rug hooking for 25 years.

I retired in 2000 from the film industry, where I was a motion picture costumer in Los Angeles for 28 years, working with such notables as Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson, and Tom Hanks. For the next 15 years, I was a circuit rug hooking teacher, traveling all over the U.S. and Canada and was the director of Caraway Rug School.