Published: Jan. 26, 2017
Hooked on an art, craft
Local women to be featured in Cedarburg exhibit
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
Kathleen Limbach walked into an antique shop one day in the early 1980s and couldn’t believe what she saw.
She looked at the owner of the store and pointed to something on the wall.
It was a rug.
“I asked the woman who owned the antique store if it was made, who did it and how to contact her,” Limbach said.
It’s safe to say she was “hooked.”
That was the start of Limbach’s hobby as a rug hooker. That was in 1983.
“The colors were great,” she said. “They were old looking, antique
looking, and the design was very very simple. I thought, ‘I think I
can really do that.’” From there, it was an adventure, initially met
with struggle and disappointment before becoming enjoyable.
Limbach, who lives in Naples, Florida, from November to May and in
West Bend the rest of the year, will be one of eight rug hookers,
including two others from West Bend, showcased in an exhibition called
“The Art and Craft of Rug Hooking,” which opened Wednesday at the
Cedarburg Art Museum, W63 N675 Washington Ave.
The other West Bend rug hookers are Nancy Allen and Renee Haugen.
Rug hooking is where someone pulls loops of yarn or fabric through a
base such as burlap or linen. The loops are pulled through a backing
material by using a crochet hook.
The eight rug hookers call themselves “The Thrum Chums.”
“Thrum is a small piece of wool that comes off the side of the strip
when you cut a strip,” Limbach said. “It’s part of the language of rug
hooking. It was originally made up of women from Ozaukee and Washington County.”
They took several classes in the early 1980s to learn the techniques of
rug hooking. When their teacher stopped, they decided to form a group
to teach each other. It also turned into a social group.
“I’ve always been into doing something with my hands,” Haugen said.
Having done everything else imaginable as far as arts and crafts with
her hands — needlepoint, crossstitch, knitting — Haugen thought, “Why
not?”
“It was something I wanted to try,” she said.
“Once I started on rug hooking ... you have such a choice of colors, a
choice of patterns. It’s unlimited to what you can do,” Haugen said.
Early on, the social aspect is what kept Haugen and Limbach involved.
Limbach’s first rug was a house with a bird on top and two trees on
either side. It was a simple design. Executing it was a different issue.
“I was so tired of that rug when I finished because it took me so long
to do,” she said. “I never finished that rug. It’s on a shelf.”
She spent more than a year on it, but didn’t finish the edges. At times, the project seemed tedious and too time consuming.
However, Limbach loved the process.
“The reason I never finished the edge of my first rug was because I
was very anxious and excited about starting a new project,” she said.
“Every rug hooker is like that. We always have another project we want
to hook. We laughingly say, ‘We hope we are on Earth long enough to hook
all the rugs we have planned in our minds.’” Haugen agreed. Her first
project kept falling apart.
“It was discouraging,” Haugen said.
But, just like Limbach, Haugen liked the process and the creative freedom it gave her.
“I think it’s fun, it’s very relaxing,” Haugen said. “It’s fun to see it evolve.”
There is debate of whether rug hooking is a craft or an art. The case can be made for both.
It is a craft because of the materials used, such as cloth. It is an
art because most rug hookers, including Limbach and Haugen, come up with
designs of what they’re going to make.
“We all enjoy each other’s company,” Limbach said. “We all have
shared interests. I use my rugs everywhere, the floor, the wall. They
all have important memories for me. That’s what made me stick to it.
“I do a lot of my own design. That’s a creative outlet for me. The end product looks pretty cool when you’re finished.”
According to Limbach, rug hooking can be traced back to the early
1700s when, in colder climates, people wanted rugs for the floors, but
couldn’t afford to buy them. At that time, the rug hookers used old
clothing and peeled-off strips.
“It was a way of being very thrifty but also warming up their floors,” Limbach said.
How and why people hooked rugs advanced through the decades.
“As time went on, the industry patterns were professionally made by
other people,” Limbach said. “Women hooked those patterns. That would’ve
been about early 1900s.
“As we know it now, many of us draw our own patterns or buy printed
patterns of old rugs, historical rugs or of things you like, such as
flowers.”
Limbach likes to document family history.
“I don’t keep a diary; I haven’t written a memoir,” she said. “This
is my way for somebody, someday to know what my life was about.”
“They add personality to a home,” she added.
“It’s a good expression of how you feel,” Haugen said.
For more information about the exhibition, call 262-377-6123 or visit www.cedarburgartmuseum.org.
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