The Magnificent Rugs of Sylvia Bowersox

Tulip Rug, 46" x 27" wool on burlap.  Designed and hooked by Sylvia Bowersox, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, 1983.

Those who know Sylvia Bowersox best shared the same observation about her level of enthusiasm: it bordered on obsession. 

Over the years, the long-time Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, resident had honed her artistic compulsions through millenary work, dressmaking, painting, and drawing before discovering rug hooking in the early 1970s through a chance acquaintance. She quickly devoted the same level of passion to rug hooking that drove her other creative pursuits.

“She just became obsessed with it,” recalls her daughter-in-law, Peg Baker, who lives in nearby Mechanicsburg. “She was that way with everything she did. She would throw herself into it 150 percent. And whatever she did, she did extremely well.”

This article is from the June/July/August 2013 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.