Cat's Meow
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Three hooked rugs depicting a series of whimsical cat images- have become building blocks of what is an international voluntary effort to create the first Hooked Museum of North America.

The trio of hand hooked art marks the beginning of a continent wide “hook-in” of fund raising projects in the United States and Canada ,designed to demonstrate widespread support for a Nova Scotia initiative to preserve the seriously endangered history of rug hooking which started in old “Acadia” and has swept across the continent. A leadoff two thousand dollar donation to the Hooked Rug Museum of North America project in Chester to create a unique Nova Scotia Gallery of Hand Hooked rugs was announced today by the Chester Chapter 119 of the international Pearl McGown Guild of Rug Handkrafters The contribution came from the sale of a “Cat’s Meow Rug” hooked by the members of this group to aid the Museum.

The gift is to encourage the Museum to develop a long term sustainability program for the heritage preservation project by providing an opportunity for Nova Scotian rug hookers to broaden their market reach. A number of rural areas in Nova Scotia are still actively producing hooked rugs in a cottage industry which is an important source of income for senior citizens who need to supplement widow’s pensions. Another $2,000 donation is enroute to the Museum project from three groups, the Heritage Rug Hookers of Clearwater ; the Pearl McGown Hookcrafters, Lake Seminole; and Pinellas Rug Hookers of St Peterbsurg, Florida who also hooked a "Cat’s Meow" rug pattern donated by newly appointed HRMNA Director Anne Smith of Halifax. The hoped for purpose of this joint contribution is to spark a major replication program of very early miniature hand-cut stencils which have been discovered by Museum rug researchers in the now defunct 1892 John E. Garrett rug pattern factory in New Glasgow.

Experts are currently analyzing this recently rescued art to determine if the mystery patterns may be the oldest commercial designs for rug making ever discovered. Details of the first phase of this important rescue mission of rug hooking history will be announced shortly.

In addition to this $2,000 gift it has just been disclosed that a further $500. contribution is being sent to the Museum from the proceeds of an auction sale of a group of exquisite framed floral images, by the Heritage Rug Hookers group in Clearwater- as a spark to ignite contributions for the creation of an archives and library as a resource center within the future Museum.

The third donation to be received, arrived this week from Ontario where a supportive group of Greater Toronto metro area rug hookers spent their volunteer efforts during the winter months hooking another Cat’s Meow rug and raised $1,280. through their efforts. Their fund raising project is the first of approximately a dozen of such rugs Press release: Hooked Rug Museum of North America 275-5222 being hooked by various Chapters of the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild . This donation and others will be added to a special reserve account to create an Ontario Gallery in the future Museum.

Mary Ann Pilskalnietis of Scarborough who passed along the contribution to the HRMNA project paid special credit to the Ontario “miracle workers” who “deserve special mention for their efforts”. They include Eileen Clark, Vivien Thompson, Shannon Ferrier, Sandra Marshall, Wendie Scott Davis, Barbara D’Arcy, Betty Laine, Lorrie Joudrey, Elaine Copeman, Anne Ellen MeLing Johnston, Haroldine Seli, Treasure Kizas, Sue MacGregor and Helen Brown.

Speaking about the Chester Chapter’s contribution -“ We trust the Nova Scotia Hand Hooked Rug Marketing center gallery will serve two purposes, said Suzanne Conrod, President of the Chapter as well as Founder of the Hooked Rug Museum project itself. “ Our members have spent many hours of their time to hand hook a rug called the Cat’s Meow based on a design created by talented Mahone Bay artist Christine Little of Encompassing Designs . Throughout North America, other rugs based on this unique pattern are also being hooked by volunteers to help advance the Museum for various objectives.

“Our local objective “, explained Mrs Conrod- “ is two fold- first that this very special Nova Scotia gallery provide an outlet to help rug hookers market their creations to an international market place and to commemorate the ancestral efforts of early Nova Scotian rug hookers who were dependent on rug hooking not only to warm the drafty floors of pioneer log cabins but also to earn a small income. She explained that sustainability was important for the survival of many rural Nova Scotia rug hookers who even today depend on rug hooking earnings to supplement widow’s pensions and fishermen’s earnings in the Lunenburg and Inverness County areas . She expressed hoped that this early sponsorship of a thrust to advance the marketing of Nova Scotia rug hooking on an international basis will also provide a source of income and further incentive to advance construction of the Museum itself at an early date.