A Rug Hooker’s Road Trip Through the Canadian Atlantic Provinces: Welcome to Our Fiber World
Presentation

Rémi Lévesque,  Grand-Barachois, New Brunswick, Canada 

Dates:   Evening – Wednesday, August 16, 2023 
Time:  6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Class Fee: $75.00 / Sauder Village Members $65.00
Supply Fee: None
Location: Founder’s Hall – Center Stage
Teacher’s Website:  Facebook.com/coussinhooke & Facebook.com/USA50Hookedcushions

Description: 

The Canadian Atlantic Provinces are situated east of the state of Maine; friendly neighbors. This exclusive road trip presentation will bring you through the Provinces of: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador. Discover the beauty and talent that this part of the world has to offer in rug hooking, needle-punch, felting and other fiber arts.

We will explore the regions rich history, attractions and love affair with rug hooking. While touring each province, Rémi will highlight the must-see places to stop, shop and enjoy. Among which, we will drop in on the Rug Hooking Museum of North America, the Chéticamp Les Trois Pignons Cultural Centre – Museum & Gallery, and we will have a peek at the International Collection of Hooked Cushions at the Historic Church of Barachois. 

We will also tour Canada’s Oodest woolen mill - Briggs and Little, visit major hooking shops, studios, farms, wool factories, and present some of our well-known fiber artists and teachers. 

You will learn about our maritime approach to hooking, our uniqueness in styles, use of colors, and design inspirations. We will talk about fiber festivals, hook-ins, retreats, magazines, guilds, and historic rug registries. But we must not forget, some of our major tourist attractions and spectacular scenic views - that will make your evening a pure delight.

This evening, keep your eyes open for inspirations for rug designs, there surely will be many. And even though you won’t have left Ohio, you’ll feel as if you’ve journeyed to the beautiful Canadian Maritime Provinces. Or you will be ready to pack your bags and travel there soon - thanks to Rémi’s wonderful presentation, you’ll know where to go and what to do when you get there & who to hook with!

Teacher will contact students prior to class: No

Level:  Everyone welcome, no prior rug hooking knowledge or experience required. 

Supply description: None

Students Need to Bring: Notepad and pen

Rémi has always been intrigue by fabric. Like many of you he was brought up in a home surrounded by fabric artisan and artists. His mom, grand-mothers and aunts were quilters, knitters, crocheters and macrame makers, as well as weavers, clothes makers and designers, and creators of huge braided rugs. They did it all except hooking. 

He was first introduced to rug hooking 15 years ago when he arrived early at his piano teacher’s home for his first lesson. He was invited to wait in the living room and there they were, rugs, rugs, and more rugs.  The walls and floors were covered with hooked rugs. For the following weeks he made sure to arrive a little early. His piano teacher and hooking artist extraordinaire, noticed his curiosity and prepared for him a bag filled with a frame, backing, yarn, odd cut wool strips and a hook. She showed him how to pull a few loops and sent him home.  For a year or so, he hooked alone at home. It’s after visiting his first rug hooking exhibit two years later that he was literately hooked and joined the group “Les Hookeuses du Bor’de’lo” of Shediac. 

At the same time, he developed a passion for photography, winning local awards, and became an active volunteer at the Barachois Museum and Art Gallery. It’s preparing for his first hooking exhibit in 2019, that he experimented with using a photograph in his rug design and the rest is history. He says his only fame to rug hooking is the creation of the Barachois International Collection of Hooked Cushions, a permanent exhibit of over 300 hooked cushions from all around the world. 

Like you, Rémi attended multiple courses and workshops, online courses, hook-ins, retreats and one-on-one courses. Rémi has led his “Framing with a Photograph in Your Rug: A Meaningful Journey” workshop with hooking groups in New Brunswick, Canada where he lives.