Doug Rankin Retreat

Doug Rankin Retreat
Mad about Maud Lewis

Retreat is SOLD OUT

Doug Rankin

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
hookarug.com

“Mad about Maud Lewis”

4 Day Retreat: Tuesday – Friday, August 14 – 17, 2018
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
$350.00 / Sauder Village Members $330.00
Heritage Inn – Gathering Room B

DESCRIPTION:

Maud Lewis (1903-1970), famous Canadian folk artist, used bright colours in her paintings, and subjects were often of flowers, oxen teams, horses, birds, deer, or cats. Many of her paintings are of Nova Scotia outdoor scenes, like Cape Island boats bobbing on the water, horses pulling sleigh, skaters, and portraits of dogs, cats, deer, birds, and cows. Her paintings were inspired by childhood memories of the landscape and people around Yarmouth and South Ohio as well as Digby locations such as Point Prim and Bayview. Christmas cards and calendars also provided influence. Most of her paintings are quite small - often no larger than eight by ten inches, although she is known to have done at least five paintings 24” x 36”. The size was limited by the extent she could move her arms, due to birth defects and rheumatoid arthritis. She used mostly wallboard and tubes of Tinsol, an oil-based paint. Maud's technique consisted of first coating the board with white, drawing an outline, and then applying paint directly out of the tube. She rarely blended or mixed colours.

In 1998, Anne Rankin of Highland Heart Hookery was granted exclusive rights to use Maud’s images as rug hooking patterns --- royalties supporting the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, where Maud’s art and house are on exhibit.

Doug, Anne’s husband, teaches students how to capture Maud’s whimsical style and colours in their hooked rugs. He says that a lot of folk art doesn’t have perspective, but Maud’s does, along with a wonderful sense of colour. You can feel her joy coming through as you hook one of her designs. Doug keeps Maud’s spirit alive as he shares stories and insight into her life and art, as well as tips to capturing her painting techniques in your hooking.

In this retreat, students will be able to select from over 50 patterns and work in cuts # 3 - 6 to create their own joyful Maud Lewis hooked rug.

LEVEL: Intermediate to Advanced – students must have good rug hooking knowledge and experience.

STUDENTS NEED TO BRING: Basic hooking supplies: a frame, scissors, cutter, cutter blades # 3 - 6, & hook. Optional: Wool

BIO:

Doug did not know what a hooked rug was until his wife took him to an exhibit by Doris Eaton. He only took a course to accompany his wife who wanted to learn in 1995. His interest grew with exposure to studios in New England. His wife, upon retiring, opened Highland Heart Hookery in 1997, inviting him to teach. He became an accredited teacher with the Nova Scotia Rug Hooking Guild, and went to Northern Teachers Workshop in 2000 to become a certified McGown teacher in 2002. He continues to attend yearly McGown Northern Teachers’ Workshops.

He has exhibited rugs in US and Canada including McGown and ATHA exhibitions. “Eddie the Eagle” rug was in the Eye See You II series in Rug Hooking Magazine and featured at Sauder Village. He hooked the Tarot card “Death” that has been touring USA and Canada for over two years as Exploring the Tarot exhibit --- 23 artists hook the Major Arcana.

Versed to teach many genres of rugs, he teaches weekly at home and on the road. His wife having a license for producing Maud Lewis rugs from paintings, Doug has been giving workshops in venues like the Hooked Rug Museum of Nova Scotia, Country Inn Rug School in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, USA, various locations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Price Edward Island, Quebec and Ontario, Canada.

SPECIALTIES: Fine shading, Florals, Mandalas, Magical Landscapes, Orientals, Grenfell, Pictorials, Maud Lewis rugs & Dyeing.

Registration starts at Noon on November 15th, 2017
Follow this link for information on the registration form:
Retreats Registration

Rug Hooking Week Homepage

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