Duane Hicks
Ideas wanted
Organizers are hoping to get local people of all ages “hooked” on a new community art project which is coming together in Fort Frances.
A collaborative rug-hooking project based on the theme “What Hooks You Here,” which has received funding from the Community Arts and Heritage Education Project (CAHEP), will see community members take turns hooking two pieces over the next year which, when completed, will remain on display at the Fort Frances Museum.
Intended to be both a “community arts” and “heritage education” project, it will involve creative input from the community while, at the same time, teach the public how to rug hook, explained Debbie Ballard, who along with fellow avid rug hooker Judy Kielczewski, were among those who submitted several hooked pieces to a community art-themed museum exhibit last month.
Those same pieces led to a discussion of a community rug-hooking project at a CAHEP meeting here last month, after which museum curator Pam Cain urged them to apply for funding.
They then met with CAHEP co-ordinator Lila Cano of Thunder Bay a couple of weeks ago, who “loved the all-encompassing nature of it,” enthused Ballard.
Shortly thereafter, the rug-hooking project was given the green light.
“When I met [Ballard and Kielczewski], they were just amazing. I saw their work at the museum and it is really phenomenal,” noted Cano.
“As a project, it is fantastic,” she added, saying the rug-hooking project will see a range of people—artists, rug hookers, students, and just about anybody else—working together to make it happen.
And not knowing what they’ll come up with is exciting.
“What we’re hoping is, say, a writer and maybe a visual artist works in a class to get the kids, seniors, or the learners they’re working with to brainstorm ideas for what the final result could be,” said Cano.
“When you jump off a cliff, you don’t know if you’re going to fly or where you’re going to land, and part of it is because the initial creative work has got to come from the groups—whether it is young learners, older learners, seniors, or community groups,” she remarked.
“You don’t know what that end result is going to be.
“They are part of the creative process,” Cano stressed. “They are either developing the story that’s going to go on the rug that will be hooked by the community or they are going to brainstorming into the design or colours—who knows what?
“Probably a lot of all of those things.”
Cano also liked the theme “What Hooks You Here.”
“People live in Fort Frances, we live in the north, for a reason—we live here because we love it,” she enthused. “There are so many things that draw us to these kinds of places that are exciting and beautiful—arts, heritage, culture, sports, landscapes, all of it.
“We’re trying to really celebrate why we choose to live in these places.”
Cano said she also was looking for a project that could be done by “absolutely anyone.” Whether they are young children or seniors in a home, they should be able to hook a rug and “get joy out of participating, out of being part of that.”
“I thought, ‘That’s fantastic.’ That’s real collaboration and it’s real inclusivity.
“Absolutely everyone can get on board and celebrate what their story is.”
Ballard agreed the idea is to get as many hands as possible working on the rug-hooking pieces.
They would like to see the pieces passed around from group to group—whether they are a quilting group, service group, volleyball team, sorority, co-workers, or Rainycrest resident—so that they are truly “community projects,” and people of all ages can say they worked on this or that part of the finished works.
“The idea is that it is a heritage craft, and rug hooking is a heritage craft,” Ballard noted. “And many members of the community can participate.
“Anyone who can pull up loops can work on the project, and our part will be going around putting on workshops, showing people how to pull up loops.
“We’ll get the map of the project done so people will know what to do when they get it with their group, or place or work, or wherever,” Ballard added.
Community input
Many details still have to be sorted out, but the gist of the project is that the rug-hooking pieces will be “mapped out” based on artwork which, in turn, was inspired by what community members like about living here.
What’s needed right now is input from the community so the project can start moving ahead.
“We don’t want to sit and wait,” enthused Kielczewski, adding they would like to start seeing stories, artwork, photographs, or any other type of creative input as soon as possible.
“If someone has an idea, we would certainly be open to it,” said Ballard.
“It’s a community project. We want to be as all-inclusive as possible,” she stressed.
Kielczewski conceded it might not be possible to use every idea for these two pieces, but it doesn’t mean they’ll go to waste and possibly would be used in a future project.
Writers, artists, or anyone with ideas to contribute to the project can contact Kielczewski (274-7120), Ballard (274-3250), or the museum (274-7891).
As well, any individuals, groups, or teachers interested in working on it once the rug hooking actually begins should contact them at the numbers above.
Looking ahead, the project will be more formally explained at open house slated for March 25 at the museum. At that time, Ballard said they’ll most likely demonstrate how a piece of artwork, done by Cain, will be turned into a rug-hooking creation.
“That workshop is for anyone who is involved in the project or even interested in participating in the project,” noted Ballard. “If you’re a teacher and you think it would be cool for your class to get involved, but aren’t sure if they could, you can come and you can see.
“It’s fine for kids to do. It’s actually maybe a little easier for little fingers.”
The public also will get a chance to work on it during the first week of June, at which time the project should be well underway.
Ballard and Kielczewski will have it at one of the various activities being held in conjunction with the grand opening of Phase II of the Heritage Tourism Project (i.e., the Hallett, lookout tower, and other waterfront enhancements).
For those who may not be the crafty type, Ballard said rug hooking shouldn’t intimidate anyone.
“It’s not difficult. You only have to be able to pull up loops,” she promised. “There’s a hook that’s designed specifically to grab the wool.
“I have taught quite a few people to hook and really have to say I have only had two or three who had trouble pulling up loops.
“That’s the beauty of doing within your group—if you have trouble with it, other group members can pick up your slack,” added Ballard.
“It’s not hard. Pulling up loops is a means to an end, that’s all it is.
“It’s not the final product, it’s the means to an end.”
While everything will depend on how many rug-hooking pieces are done and how large they are, Ballard said the entire project will take abut a year to complete.
“The size of the piece will depend, ultimately, on how much money is available,” she reasoned. “It is expensive to buy wool, so the bigger it is, the more wool it takes, the more dye it takes.
“And until we have artwork, we don’t know that.
“But I’d really like to have two pieces—one piece done completely by kids, and then one piece done by other interested groups,” Ballard said.
The project received CAHEP funding in the amount of $1,500 while another $1,000 was raised at the Rodney Brown and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra concert last week at the Townshend Theatre here.
In addition to a myriad of projects in Thunder Bay, Cano said CAHEP is working with 13 communities in Northern Ontario—of which Fort Frances is one—to help get “those smaller projects off the ground.”
Called the “Big Picture Initiative,” the effort is funded by the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp., and sponsored by Bearskin Airlines.
