Getting hooked at MERA

Mar 10, 2011

Photo: Rug hookers at MERA

On a chilly, soggy winter day there is no cozier , craftier and more colourful place to be than the MERA school house and this last Saturday was no exception.

Close to 15 veteran and beginner rug hookers, each armed with a 10” hoop, gathered in the weaving room at MERA where, surrounded by heaps of colourful recycled fabrics, they began to create their own interpretation of a night sky. Veteran rug Hooker and Perth resident Donna Sproule supplied both the hoops and fabric and shared her enthusiasm for the craft she has been practicing for the last nine years.

Donna started rug hooking in Amherst, Nova Scotia and is best known for her east coast primitive rugs, rugs that portray simple pictoral themes and that use traditional burlap backing and mostly recycled fibres from old wool clothing. Donna's teacher is the internationally acclaimed and renowned Canadian rug hooker Deanne Fitzpatrick, and for this MERA workshop Donna included some of Deanne's instructional videos, along with her own demonstration plus a lot of talk about inspiration with the aim of dispelling the most common myths about creativity. “Creativity can often be stunted by people’s fear of being lacking in it so I make a point proving them wrong. We are all creative; it’s just a matter of not being afraid to go forward and try to express it,” she said.

To encourage creativity she pointed out that often colour far outweighs pictoral design when it comes to rug hooking. “Colour can be the well spring of what one creates and pictoral content often takes a back seat to it.”

To get the group started she shared four different basic designs of the night sky and let individuals take it from there. She made available plenty of purples and blues as well as metallic silver and gold to use for stars and the moon.

Donna also stressed what she calls “the other important underpinnings of rug hooking”; like the fact that you can create beautiful objects by recycling clothing that might otherwise end up at the dump, thereby helping the community and the environment while at the same time adding practical beauty to the world. “These creations are not just things that hang on the wall- as rugs they were always made to be used on the floor and any animal will show you how comfortable and desirable they are and how they really should be used.”

For Donna, having rug hookers at different skill levels is an important part of what makes her workshops successful. “Rug hooking is extremely tactile and it can be difficult to explain without doing it yourself so I tend to let the experienced rug hookers help the beginners along so the latter can see exactly how the technique is done.”

The workshop attracted many who were new to the craft and two beginners who traveled all the way from Kingston to attend were both very excited with their creations - rightly so.

For more information about upcoming workshops at MERA visit www.meraschoolhouse.org or call 613-278-0388.