My Tree/Dawn Dimitriadis

My Tree, 48" x 36", scissor-cut strips of recycled wool on monk’s cloth. Designed and hooked by Dawn Dimitriadis, Lords Valley, Pennsylvania, 2015. 

Dawn Dimitriadis came to rug hooking through her husband’s social acquaintance with artist Linda Rae Coughlin’s husband. At large group dinner parties, the two women clicked in conversations about their shared love of textile fiber. Eventually, the sight of the extraordinary rugs displayed in the Coughlin’s home launched this fledgling rugger. Linda showed Dawn how to pull loops, and Dawn was on her way.

Black trees silhouetted against a sundown sky had always held particular fascination for Dawn, and as her creative process percolated, one dominating tree became the subject of her first hooked rug. That her silhouetted tree is white—a pleasant, surprise twist—has an explanation familiar to experienced rug hookers. She possessed relatively little light-colored wool and a greater quantity of medium- to dark-colored wool. Thus, having wool in sufficient quantity to complete the rug’s background determined the placement of light wool versus dark.

Melinda Russell hooks rugs, writes, and cultivates her garden in Alderson, Greenbrier County, West Virginia.

This article excerpt is from the November/December 2016 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.