I have hooked rugs since I was a little girl of 10. My Irish grandmother was a rug hooker and she would not let her grandchildren in the house until they had hooked a few loops in a rug that sat in the back hall. The hook and scissors were tied to the rug frame so we had no excuses to run away! Later, around 1988 I remembered my grandmother's rugs and decided to hook a rug myself. I fell in love with the art of rug hooking.
Since 1988 I have studied rug making with a passion. I am a certified McGown Rug Hooking Instructor and have taught numerous classes and workshops in the United States and Canada. I was the first rug hooking teacher at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. I have served on the editorial board of Rug Hooking Magazine and written many articles for this publication. I am the author of "The Pictorial Rug," published by Stackpole Books and now out of print.
In 2000 I was invited to appear on the Carol DuVal Show. This segment was broadcast on Home and Garden Television and occasionally is repeated.
My rugs have been in numerous juried shows. Currently, My rug, "The Jack of Hearts," is in a traveling exhibition called "The Art of Playing Cards."
In 2002 I returned to school and graduated in 2005 from the Ringling School of Art and Design. I teach rug hooking, watercolor, and color pencil. I am often told my other work resembles a textile. You can view this work at www.paintpencil.com . My first love has always been my work with fiber.
I am particularly fond of pictorial rugs and floral designs. In 2001 I developed a new type of rug hooking called "Close-Up Rug Hooking". These wall hangings are are hooked using a strip of wool wider than 1 inch and shaded just like a tapestry. They are large and quite magnificent.
I recently returned to rug hooking after concentrating on my painting and drawing for a few years. I feel like I have come home to the place where my art career began.
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