Jennifer Curran

Artist Statement

My hooked mask is a passion flower which is used to alleviate anxiety. There is also a representation of snails for patience. Turquoise, on the colour wheel, fits between green and blue - radiating the peace and tranquility of blue and the balance and growth of green. The design represents my thoughts and needs during this time.

Rug hooking is both an art and a craft -- craft being a 'useful' piece of art. This mask certainly fits that definition. The piece is made by pulling loops of fabric (cut into strips) or yarn through a woven backing using a hook.

For this piece I wanted to use only material I had in my stash-- the backing, the wool, and the yarn were all left over from previous projects. The Passion flower is hooked in a fine shading technique, with strips of wool fabric in 6 values of pink and of green. It was embellished with beads and silver metallic embroidery thread. The snails were created using yarn that matched the wool fabric used for the background. The ties, made with sari silk, were machine stitch around the mask before hooking, and then hand-stitched over the light cotton canvas lining.

I am a Canadian rug hooker with Canadian teaching certification from the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild and American certification from the National Guild of the Pearl McGown Hookrafters.