Rachelle Leblanc

Bed of Violets, 23" x 27", handcut and hand-dyed wool on linen. Designed and hooked by Rachelle LeBlanc, St.Albert, Alberta, Canada, 2011.

While wandering the vast exhibit of hooked rugs on display at the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild’s 2006 exhibition at Round Barn, Shelburne Museum, I came across the work of Rachelle LeBlanc for the first time. Her work struck an immediate chord, and many of us in the world of rug hooking began to scratch our heads, wondering who she was, and why had we never seen her art before. We learned she was a new, self-taught rug hooking artist who created original designs. The sophistication of her compositions aroused great excitement. From the start, Rachelle has worked in a tradition-steeped medium while advancing to new artistic territories. Using recycled materials and humble tools in the manner of the earliest rug hookers, Rachelle has the sensibility and vision of a modern artist, seeking to create perspectives that are new and exciting; she creates works of wonder that never fail to evoke an emotional response in the viewer.

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