This invitation is not as insidious as the headline might indicate. In fact , developing a professional Web site with all its intricacies is a complicated and challenging undertaking as we in HRMNA are discovering step by cautious step. We are effectively testing the potential of a very powerful communicative tool.

For the Hooked Rug Museum of North America research teams it feels like we have been sharing an inordinate amount of time with real live creepy crawlies and sticky strands of cobweb in the five years of basement and attic research while this project has been under development. The descriptive words remain the same but the meanings have changed dramatically as we venture into the nebulous world of the web.

The assembly of a million dollar collection of North American rug hooking history has been confirmed at the 2008 annual meeting of the Hooked Rug Museum of North America Society. The art, artifacts and archival materials are described as“phenomenal by Nova Scotia Museum specialists. In the Keynote address to the annual meeting of the Ontario Hooking Crafters Guild , Suzanne Conrod , Founder of the Museum project announced that possible sites in which to house the collections for the first hooked rug museum, gallery and archives in North America are currently being explored.

She further disclosed that the Hooked Rug Museum had approached the Canadian UNESCO commission, seeking possible designation of rug hooking heritage as an endangered art. She accentuated the point that rug hooking had been “tramped on” for far too long and deserved to be recognized as the craft that had grown through a folk-art period to its current evolvement as a little recognized fine-art, “painting with wool”.

What it "Feels Like" To Be a Rug Hooker
by Cynthia Young, Orillia Sunshine Hookers, Ontario

It is a spiritual, tactile journey into the past- a past rooted in survival. It includes men and women tossed in the waves of an unforgiving ocean , coming to a land where life was hewn of wind, water, earth and rock. In the ever present changing light, the shaper of clouds swirled in their midst. Were they oblivious to the rawness of this landscape? I don't think so. It became enmeshed in their being. And, at the end of the day, the larger movements of those toiling on the seas or the land became smaller. The rough hands of the sea mended a net, the hands of the kitchen picked up a hook. All transformed the threads of the day into necessities - nets and mats to sustain life in a new world.

Through time and migration, the spirit moves to different places, finds roots in different homes. The energy of those who came before, follows us. It transcends , takes new shapes, reflects on the landscape , and the ever changing sky. It translates new images for a new generation. So, we are rug hookers - rooted in the past, looking to the future. We honor our past. Like the fishermen mending nets, we mend the rugs of our ancestors, cherish their energy and hold sacred the spirit of those who nurtured us. ( The century old hooked rug pictured with this touching column has just been donated to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America by Mrs Myrna Reeves a very spry senior from Martin's River, N.S.)

The Acadian style hooked rugs started their journey around the world from the village of Cheticamp -the doorstep into Cape Breton's national park and the dramatic scenery of the renowned Cabot Trail. The magnificence of the rug art of Marie Stella Bourgeois however, rivals even that awesome scenery.

The hand hooking of rugs has been a utilitarian and economic heritage in Cape Breton ,Nova Scotia for many years but the fine art mastery of a select group of rug hookers from that region has been for too long remained a well hidden treasure of the rug art world. Like many other components of rug hooking history, these world class artists have long suffered from the lack of a spotlight being shone on their achievements.
Read More