Hooked in the Mountains XV: Vermont's Premier Rug Show

Rufus, 27" x 46", #4-, 6-, and 8-cut hand-dyed and as-is wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Bev Conway of Middlebury, Vermont, 2005. Photography by Anne-Marie Littenberg.

Hooked in the Mountains rug show returns to Vermont's Shelburne Museum for its 15th year. Held at the Museum's iconic Round Barn, Hooked in the Mountains XV is sure to please rug hookers, artists, and patrons of fiber arts. This year's show, "All the Live Long Day," celebrates working and innovation. It will be November 12-20 and will feature more than 400 rugs and unique fiber art pieces, three well-known featured artists, lectures and demonstrations, vendors, and three-day workshops.

The rug show is a project of the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild, which is run by a dedicated group of volunteers who promote the fine art and craft of rug hooking in the Green Mountain State and beyond. With almost 500 members, Green Mountain rug hookers come from throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.

Under the guidance of this year's show chair, Jen Lavoie, Hooked in the Mountains XV offers a mix of new innovations and familiar favorites. New this year: there is an improved education and hooking area with pre-show demonstrations dedicated to sharing the craft with school-age children. Stop by throughout the day for lectures, demonstrations, and short workshops. Bring your own hooking to work on while you listen. Seating for the lectures is on a first-come basis.

Many well-known rug hookers are scheduled to speak and demonstrate. Rae Harrell will discuss what it means to be a contemporary rug hooker, and Anne-Marie Littenberg and Jane Halliwell Green will talk about the judging process for those who are interested in submitting rugs to Celebration, Rug Hooking magazine's preeminent annual juried publication. A variety of techniques will be covered by Gail Lapierre, Kris McDermett, Linda Repasky, Stephanie Krauss, Nancy Jewett, Cheryl Connor, Diane Moore, and Jon Ciemiewicz. Two of our featured artists will present techniques they have perfected in their own hooking: Helen Wolfel (One-Pot Swatch Dyeing) and Bev Conway (The Art of the Secret Message). The complete schedule is listed by date and time on the website (www.gmrhg.org).

The show's three featured artists are Betty Bouchard, who has a natural instinct for color and favors an impressionistic style; Bev Conway, who is known for her whimsical style and her focus on color's psychological effects; and Helen Wolfel, who has had a long rug hooking and dyeing career. 

Here are some of the details; please visit the website for more at www.gmrhg.org.   

Hooked in the Mountains XV
November 12-20, 2011
10 am to 5 pm; closing at noon on Sunday

Location:   
Shelburne Museum's Round Barn
6000 Shelburne Road
Shelburne, VT 05482

Admission: $8.00 adults, $4.00 seniors; children free
Contact: Jen Lavoie, Show Chair, (802) 434-8191

The 3-Day Hooked in the Mountains Workshops

Once again, Hooked in the Mountains Workshops will have many progressive rug hooking teachers and workshops and  also offer traditional and primitive rug hooking. The workshops are limited to no more than 15 students per class. For more information, visit www.hookedinthemountainsworkshops.com or call 518-399-8975.

November 12, 13, & 14

Lucille Festa - Heirloom Primitive
Angela Foote - Spark Your Color Palette
Dianne Kelly - Hook Faces With Ease
Iris Simpson - Open Class

November 15, 16, & 17

Cherylyn Brubaker - Enhance Your Hooking
Jane Halliwell Green - Expressive Pictorials
Anne-Marie Littenberg - Rug Hooking with a Painterly Effect
Amy Oxford - Punch Needle Rug Hooking Open Workshop

November 18, 19, & 20

Pam Bartlett - Fur, Feathers & Fins
Diane Burgess - Learning to Hook Rugs
Nola Heibreder - Garage Sale Fiber Art
Michele Micarelli - Fantasy
Lisanne Miller - Background and Borders

This article is from the September/October 2011 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.