“POLYPODS,” a hooked rug by Anne Cox that was just completed this past winter, is on view at Maine Fiberarts in Topsham through April 27.
A reception will be held on Sunday, April 7, from 2 to 5 p.m. and the artist will speak about her work for a half hour starting at 2:30 p.m.
In addition to this reception, Maine Fiberarts will host a Hook-In on Friday, April 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Members of the Midcoast Rug Hookers, members of Maine Fiberarts, and others will be hand demonstrating this traditional handcraft, and members of the public are invited to see this display.
Cox lives and works in Tenants Harbor where, along with co-owner Julie Wortman, she maintains Hedgerow Designs, a perennial and landscape design garden business. Cox has a masters of landscape architecture degree from the University of Michigan and has been designing, installing and maintaining gardens and landscapes in Mid-coast Maine since 1997. She also makes imaginative rustic furniture, a news release said.
In 2006, Wortman traveled to Nova Scotia and met rug hooking notable Deanne Fitzpatrick. She purchased a hooking kit with supplies to get started, but it was Cox who found interest in the kit. Ever since, during the cold winters in Maine and when the gardens sleep, Cox makes rugs.
Her themes involve polypods, hay bales, sunrises and sunsets, and the beauty of the Maine landscape. Her large piece “Look,” a work that measures almost 8 feet across, won the 2012 Viewers’ Choice Award at the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild Show at Shelburne Museum in Vermont.
Cox creates her own designs and dyes most of the wool herself. The 12 works on view at Maine Fiberarts represent work completed in just three winters. Her talk on April 7 will offer insights into her design process and should be of special interest to rug hookers, enthusiasts and collectors, a news release said.
Maine Fiberarts’ Hook-In on April 12 continues a tradition started last year where the nonprofit’s members and friends are encouraged to create programming around a theme. Last spring, seven weavers came together to demonstrate different aspects of hand weaving and to share techniques and ideas.
Last October, a Sew-In took place where artists used sewing machines and hand stitching to create quilts, narrative embroidery, patchwork pillows and garments. At this year’s Hook-In — for one day only — rug hookers will bring works in progress, completed samples, wool and yarn scraps, tools, hooking stands, and baskets of show-and-tell. Members of the public are invited to join in and spend the day hooking or simply watch and learn more about this historic craft.
Since 2000, Maine Fiberarts has been showing the work of Maine artists in solo shows that change every two or three months. This year, the group is adding more hands-on workshops to its programming. “Sewing Spring Garments” takes place on Tuesdays in April.
For more details and for a visual preview of the current exhibition, visit www.mainefiberarts.org.
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