WVLiving Magazine has just announced on their Facebook page that I am one of the 15 Top Tamarack Artists! Much thanks to my worldwide audience who entered the pole at http://wvlivingmagazine.com
I will be featured in an article in the Summer issue along with the other artists. A new order of my hooked mini-mats will be delivered the first week of May to TAMARACK.
Mini Mats by Susan L. Feller
A stop at “the Best of West Virginia” when traveling on I64/I79 is sure to please all of your senses.
If you clicked onto this blog through http://www.ruckmanmillfarm.com welcome! Look around the posts and pages to learn even more about Susan Feller and Jim Lilly at home in the Mountain State of West Virginia.
Logo designed by Michael Anderson, Romney, WV
We are thrilled to have an official logo honoring the log home Jim built and the era of time we both are reliving… the Arts and Crafts period of the early 1900’s.
Michael Anderson is our graphic designer, web creator, fellow artist, and friend. I have found him to be easy to discuss concepts with and the magic in cyberspace he has worked should make your visits enjoyable.
Let us know of any problem, difficulty or enjoyable clicks while on the site, so we can improve it.
At Home by Jim Lilly
Enough of the thank yous, ENJOY and come back soon. Susan and Jim
The summer program for Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, Canada will be online at www.LoyalistFocus.com on March 25. My class is listed for the week of July 11-15 and can be found on page 19 of the catalog. I am thrilled to add that one of my pieces was selected for the back cover also. Rug hooking on the cover of a college brochure!
Value scale and swatches
The class will focus on VALUE and the other Elements and Principles of design. Bring a work in progress for consultation. There will be daily exercises using rughooking and we will work up a new pattern for each person. Expect to incorporate contrast, and values into your design. Geometrics would be a great way to address this subtle, yet very valuable element.
I will be studying at the McMichaels Collection outside of Toronto the week before and expect to bring these experiences to the class.
I lodge at the College also and am looking forward to spending evening hours with resident students. We had a great time the last two years visiting Belleville restaurants, eating on campus and going out to the County.
Butterfly detail from Conatined Garden Friends
There are a few spaces left in two great workshops this Spring: Contact the directors quickly to get your deposits in– love to see you and spend time working with you. Check out the Calendar page to see where else we could meet.
May 1- 5 teaching at Laurel Mountains, Ligonier, PA Design a Rug with Folk Art motifs, Learn the History of PA German Frakturs Shirley Engel director contact Shirley for details at shirlet@zoominternet.net see Barb Carroll’s site for more about Laurel Mountains… http://www.woolleyfox.com
May 8-13 teaching at Cedar Lakes Rug Camp, Ripley, WV
Open class:Folk Art to Design whatever you want to concentrate on this year. In its 46th year this camp is a wonderful relaxed experience. Nancy and Fred Blair directors email thhkrugs@alteco.net or call 616-895-6378
Just received notice that “Winter in West Virginia” was accepted in the Inspired: A West Virginia Series of Juried Exhibitions Historic Buildings. The opening ceremony was on January 24, 2011 at the WV Culture Center, 1900 Kanawha Blvd, E. Charleston, WV. Show up through July 25.
Yes that is the Capitol of West Virginia! Visit www.wvculture.org, exhibits for details about hours of the Commissioner’s gallery.
Winter in West Virginia, Susan L. Feller
This piece was one of the 6 works reviewed by jurors for TAMARACK for the category FINE CRAFT. It was created in 2009 for a travelling exhibit titled STRIPES. The artists from Japan and the United States each interpreted that word using some type of rughooking. I happily packed my work up and sent it off today, for one more leg of its journey. Japan, NJ, IN and now Charleston, WV. It is for sale, but I do hope to see its return at the end of the show, since the inspiration is a view right out our kitchen looking towards Short Mountain.
We have chosen a slogan and are using it throughout our advertising campaign beginning in 2011.
“Everybody needs FIBER.” and “Every body needs FIBER.”
Since we are immersed in the textile world specializing in woolen fabric for rughooking, the first version is adressing the “addiction” craftspeople flaunt. We all need FIBER. Our other time is spent raising vegetables, flowers and poultry on our farm in Hampshire County living as close as possible a sustainable lifestyle. Every BODY does need fiber to survive.
Follow our ads in ATHA and, as of March, in Rug Hooking Magazine. The website www.RuckmanMillFarm.com will be revamped to reflect this new image also.
2011 Ruckman Mill Farm Branding
Sharon Bennet has been posting her progress working up this design on her blog moosecraftusa.blogspot.com for months. It’s finished and she sent off the completed image to me. I posted it also under More New designs (see Ruckman Mill Farm). The palette she chose is comfortable, and has an aged feeling with the subtle background hooked in large sections with dark wools as if she had run out of a skirt and chose another one. Note, Sharon says the blue background areas are a bit more grayed (duller) than in this photo.
Hooked rug 28 x 54 by Sharon Bennett, design (c) Susan Feller Designs
The third Hampshire Highlands Studio Tour is over and was another fun way to meet neighbors, travelers and fellow artisans. Although it was cold and very windy the snow we had last year held off allowing travellers to get to all 15 studios.
From the reports by the artists we are going to put together a fourth tour. Put the first weekend in December on your calendar and visit www.HampshireHighlandsStudioTour.com throughout the year to see who is added. We plan to work with the lodging in our county to come up with great packages including tour a day, dinner in Romney, an art event (theatre or concert) at the Bottling Works and lodging in town. This will allow out-of-towners who enjoy meeting artists to visit all of the studios and enjoy our other cultural benefits.
Columbia County Carnation and Hand Carved Frame
A trip to Beckley means making a circle and coming back through Thomas, WV, visiting the MountainMade Gallery. Our work has been juried here since 2004 and we dropped off two of the “perfect” pieces which had been reviewed at Tamarack the day before. (See Fine Craft at Tamarack post)
A visit to the great Mountains of West Virginia this winter should take you to the Canaan Valley wonderland. While there a shopping trip to Thomas, and on the outskirts, the MountainMade Gallery to fill your home with West Virginia art is a must. The presentation of our work is spectacular, floating on clear glass shelves suspended from the previous factory high ceilings is shiny glassware. The pottery sits on hand carved wooden tables and our textiles warm the walls and furniture. Music plays and you can select food products too.
Finally! It took a year but on November 6, 2010 Jim and I travelled 5 hours to Beckley, WV to the afternoon session of jurying at TAMARACK-“the Best of West Virginia” and by 4:30 we got the good news: I was accepted for work in FINE CRAFT. Six pieces were reviewed for technique, materials, design and I received a perfect score from the jurors.
Rainbow of Trees by Susan L. Feller
This means that rughooking will be represented in upcoming gallery shows at TAMARACK. I am proud to represent this craftform to an audience geared toward seeing craft at its finest..as ART. The extra work I put into finishing the backs of the stretched pieces, and overall presentation added to the value and worth of the textiles. One fine artist when I showed her my stitched cloth backing, said “That looks professional.” I will share these tips with rughookers in upcoming workshops and to anyone who inquires here.
ArtWools Studio of Susan Feller 