November Study Finished

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I am thrilled to create this post of the studies created in November 2013.  The variety of techniques include painting canvas, beads, hooking, applique’, using found objects (ceramic mug, twist ties, clothesline), alpaca yarns, proddy, wire.  Styles ranged from realistic, dimensional, abstract to geometric.

Inspired a larger piece

Inspired a larger piece

During the month I created three larger pieces inspired by the studies and like the feeling I had while making two random squares.  They too could become runners at least.  The palette is changing to softer, colder, and more subtle as the seasons change.  I am going to bring out the alpaca yarns in a range of neutrals and softness for winter and the bare woods.  Missing the FALL foliage wools already.  Sure the small sparks of color will be much more enjoyable as our birds, the evergreens and wintry sky become subjects.  But that is for December and into 2014.

I began this journal on October 18 and was literally in the studio or outside working each day.  As November’s weather changed and the work space became a warm corner in the kitchen (with wood cook stove going) my work ethic changed.  In the studio all the toys were accessible adding to pieces easily.  Away from those inspirations more of the squares were just hooked.  Those which I envisioned needed different materials awaited a trip downstairs.

So it took until December 13 to complete November’s squares.  That’s ok with me.  For the year each month will remain as you see on the header image, one large piece of linen divided in a calendar grid.  After that I will divide them out and finish in appropriate manner for the piece.  I have photographed changes, documenting the lessons I am learning.  Considering this year to be my Independant Study.  Self issued certificate at end.

December has each square drawn out but I felt completing one month was important in the new discipline.  These pieces are revisiting some of the subjects with the new high contrast which snow adds.  Tree branches, railings, even a chair are different when defined by a blanket of snow.   Enjoy the Gallery of selected pieces.

Patterns found in Nature

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We added Speckled Sussex and Golden Polish chicks this spring to the barnyard.  In the order Murray McMurray included an extra chick which has grown into a MALE Hamburg.  So we have TWO roosters for 17 hens.  Trust me that is at least ONE too many and the girls think it is 2 too many.  BUT they both look spectacular, so who ends up in the stew pot?  Stay tuned.

Hamburg Rooster

Hamburg Rooster

Golden Polish Rooster

Golden Polish Rooster

In the mean time, with this variety we learned each breed has an identifiable voice along with feather pattern, and leg colors.  It is a chorus of clucks and chirps when we feed.

See if you can match the legs with feather patterns selecting one from column A and one from B.  Answers below the gallery.

Answer: Feet top to bottom (Dominique, Speckled Sussex, Golden Polish)

Feathers top to bottom (Speckled Sussex, Golden Polish, Dominique)

Year Long Study

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Beginning the study, working outside

Beginning the study, working outside

I have decided to dedicate the year leading up to my 60th birthday to studio work. Each day a sketch and five inch square design will be worked up in techniques I want to explore.  The series began ahead of time on October 18th with a plein air landscape outside of the studio.

This does not mean I won’t  teach and travel, but right now there is a long stretch of time off the road and a routine was necessary.  The short term goal is a sketch for each day.  Several larger works have evolved from these exercises already.  It has been a productive and meditative time.

Lori LaBerge’s Plein Air Hooking Artists concept helped formulate the process.  Although I am religiously sketching my subject into a journal, and working from the image for color and values, most of the subjects are also photographed as documentation.  I am also documenting changes made anticipating compiling a text to accompany an exhibit.

So far skills from a wire jewelry workshop have been incorporated into several pieces; acrylic paints; quilting; embroidery; and coiling have augmented traditional rug hooking.Monthly there will be a progress report showing the seasonal palette; design evolution; and techniques explored.  Below is a gallery of some early subjects and works.

Tamarack Foundation Fellowship

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Tamarack Foundation logo jpeg

During Tamarack Artisan Foundation’s 10th Anniversary celebration three Fellowship Awards were presented for artistic excellence and lifetime commitment to promoting and fostering the arts in West Virginia.  I am honored to have been selected by the review committee along with humanitarian photographer Paul Corbit Brown of Oak Hill and sculptor/author Carter Taylor Seaton from Huntington.

Ex Director Sally Barton; Carter Taylor Seaton, Susan L. Feller and Paul Corbit Brown

Exec. Director Sally Barton; Carter Taylor Seaton, Susan L. Feller and Paul Corbit Brown

The support for artists within West Virginia is unique in the United States.  TAMARACK at Beckely was the first facility built as an entrepreneurial opportunity for all art/craftsmen in our state.  Since 1979 a Bi-Ennial Juried Exhibition with $30,000 in awards funded through the Division of History and Culture has acquired for the State Museum contemporary works.

The Tamarack Foundation is extremely important to the proliferation and continuation of art made in West Virginia because it raises funds from corporate and private donors and distributes these by supporting artists to create a national market; grants and awards for juried shows and lifetime achievement; and acts as ambassador and lobbyists for independant craftspeople.

I submitted a project to research the social environment of Blanche and Otha McDonald of Letter Gap, WV during the 1960’s as they created fiber works using hand sewing techniques (including ‘faux hooking’).  The funds will help in travel expenses to catalog stories and images of works from collectors into a publication with step-by-step directions for fiber artists to be inspired to create contemporary works.  Teaching these skills and the story of these two independant women is my goal.

Flowers for the McDonald Sisters, Susan L. Feller

Flowers for the McDonald Sisters, 2013 Susan L. Feller hooked, trapunto, braiding, beads

Juried work in 2013

Haying Stages, Iconic Liberty, Caraway Garden Runner

Haying Stages, Iconic Liberty, Caraway Garden Runner

The studio has offered me organized space to work and explore.  Several pieces were submitted to different juried and invitational shows.

Haying Stages was accepted in 7Stitch shown at Morehead State College in Morehead, KY this summer.  It was a Surface Design exhibit and juried by the President Jane Dunnewold.  It was also accepted in the WV Div of Culture and History Biennial Juried Exhibition to be hung in the Dunn Building in Martinsburg, November 24- Feb 27, 2014.

Iconic Liberty received first place in West Virginia in the national theme American Heritage for the NSDAR.

Caraway Garden Runner was accepted along with Veins of Energy – Coal in the Best of West Virginia juried show at TAMARACK in Beckley, WV.

Summer Bouquet in Wool

This design is finally finished in my eyes.  Thanks to several critique sessions this summer.

Summer Bouquet

Summer Bouquet

 The composition came together easily, an odd number of large motifs, connected with organic (curved) lines to a small vase placed within the outside border to anchor the design.  I used templates from ‘Design in a Box-Frakturs’ and the quirky principles of balance the PA German Fraktur artists had in their repetoire.

Then came bringing the lines to life.  I photographed each of the changes and will highlight some lessons.  Click on the first image and then you can see all in larger format by using the arrows.  During one workshop where I used the images as a lesson plan, a student commented in awe at the multitude of changes I had made.  To me that is what makes a project part of my process in learning.  Kits and following directions are for a goal… completed item.  Working on a design to achieve your knowledge of GOOD is growth.

Friends who blog more about art

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It is time to spread your reading base with some much more active bloggers than I am.

I look forward to reviewing the artistic approaches to rughooking,  nature, design and life each of these friends share.  Hope you visit and enjoy their tidbits.  Each are active links in the sidebar to your right under Blogroll.

Lori LaBerge sends out a weekly post.  See her site http://www.LoriLaBerge.com

Laura Pierce lives on the West Coast and travels, reporting on her teaching destinations at http://laurawp.wordpress.com

Mary Jane Peabody’s rug graces the cover of my book ‘Design Basics for Rug Hookers’.  She has been posting for over a year now at http://www.maryjanesrugs.com/blog

Best of West Virginia 2013 at Tamarack

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The summer show at Tamarack in Beckley, WV is titled “The Best of West Virginia”.  Juried, 400 pieces were reviewed and 140 selected with awards given for Best in Show, 1st-3rd and Honorable Mention.  The gallery exhibit and SALE is up through August 2.

This year I entered a traditional design inspired by floral Fraktur motifs.  It was selected and hangs as a stunning piece of art right next to the Best in Show photograph.  Guess that is good real estate.  Visit facebook Tamarack WV and look for the photos of opening to catch a glimpse of Caraway Garden Runner over the shoulder of the Best in Show winner.

"Caraway Garden Runner" 18 x 52 designed & hooked by Susan L. Feller 2013

I decided to use a restricted palette of reds and oranges stretching this by including warm and cool members of each hue.  The foliage is dull sage greens, neutral to the flowers.  It has been some time since warm yellow was the background for a design but it lends a bright cheery mood to the feeling of “Caraway Garden Runner”. 

Working from one end to the other, and alternating light and dark values in motifs (sort of), this runner was a delight yet challenging piece.  I found the limiting palette needed some pick me ups and worked turquoise and purples into centers and the central motif.

Originally the edge was going to be a simple 1/4″ of red whipping yarn but that seemed too delicate for the raucous yellow.  Looking back at Frakturs (PA German illuminated manuscripts) I pulled from their border techniques a simple geometric repeat to edge and contain the organic shapes.  Using the yellows and greens I alternated pulling a loop which is a technique called “beading” in rughooking.  It looks as if there are contrasting beads strung around the border.  Still not satisfied that a thin red line would be enough, I played with widths of red fabric, settling on a 1 1/2″ wide one. 

The design is available as a pattern for fellow rughookers at www.RuckmanMillFarm.com Below are some detail images, Enjoy.  Click on the first image to view them larger in sequence.

Retreat again into the Mountains

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For the 6th year our RETREAT INTO THE MOUNTAINS was a rousing success.  Friday through Sunday in mid April is a beautiful time to wake up your creative juices with SPRING bursting out all around at the Peterkin Camp and Conference Center in Hampshire County, West Virginia.

The theme this year was COLOR… Participants selected their color of the weeeken and developed a small design evoking the hue with motifs and selection of fabrics and techniques.  This gallery shows works in progress throughout the session. 

During the weekend we participated in a yoga session sitting in our seats which focused on the tight back, arm, hands and eyes.  Music and levity loosened us up too as we moved our extremeties making letters and pasta shapes in the air.  We sat for a group photo, reviewed finished pieces on the porch and listened intently to Beth Tembo’s talk and display about African fabrics.  Several jumped into a dye session on Saturday and we all caravaned out to Ruckman Mill Farm to visit Jim and the chickens.  We were well fed by our host.

Working on a Commission

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The following series takes you through an exciting design project.  I was contacted in August of 2012 and the rug was delivered on April 5, 2013.  This design reflects the owner’s creativity in building their home and the natural site they chose.  In retrospect I would call the style Arts and Crafts (my mind and creativity are intertwined with the process).  The size is 40″ x 84″ and I used #8 cuts (1/4″ wide hand cut strips of wool) hooked through a primitive linen.

Steps involved contact from client based on a label on previous small mat purchased four years earlier.  We arranged a visit to the home to see surroundings, meet and discuss site in house, size, color, environment.  Three sketches were sent, the selected one was then drawn to scale and brought to the house with wools for color and approval.  At this point an estimated time for completion was established and deposit put down.  Wool prep including dyeing began and the hooking process is illustrated.  On final delivery the owners walked on the rug, and I photographed it at home.