Modern Hooker

Flames, 40" x 65", wool strips on burlap. Designed and hooked by Leslie Giuliani, Weston, Connecticut, 2008.

One of the best things about being a rug hooker is telling people you are a “hooker.” You get a laugh every time. I have been hooking for about 25 years now, having learned the craft in a continuing education class at a local high school. I have knit and sewn my whole life and have a BFA in drawing and painting. Rug hooking brought my worlds of art and craft together. Looking at hooked rugs throughout the craft’s history, one can see the trajectories of all fine art movements: primitive, abstraction, landscape, surrealism, minimalism; more hooking as fine art is a natural.

This article is from the September/October 2014 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.