Wednesday, September 1, 2010

FINAL SAUDER RUG SHOW POST ~ ~ ~

This is my last Sauder Rug Show post and shows the rugs of Mary Sheppard Burton.  Leonard Feenan was there in person and I got to chat with him about his dear friend, Mary and what they brought to each others lives ~ a very nice fellow for sure! 

Noah's Ark was the highlight of the show ~ a collaboration between Lennie, the artist who drew the patterns for Mary's vision ~ and Mary who hooked her vision along with many other volunteers who helped bring this work of art to fruition. Sadly, Mary died a couple of months ago, but did get to see the installation of this great work of art at the ATHA convention last fall.  If you go to Gene Shepherd's blog , you will see many close-up photos of the ark and the animals that give you a very good view of the magnitude of this work.









I love the big rug at the bottom titled "Luster"  ~  Beautiful pieces of lustreware floating in a sea of green!














Another beautiful example of Mary's fine rug hooking ~ such a pretty rug!  As I understand from talking to Lennie, Mary never sold any of her rug hooking.  So all of these rugs on display were in her own collection and must have been hanging ~ they were in perfect condition!











Isn't this little capelet gorgeous?  This is one of two on display ~ the other was a long white cape ~ absolutely such fine hooking ~ it must weigh a ton ~ I wondered (but didn't ask) if she wore it.  They both are works of art, for sure!





The four  rugs depict  Sycamore Hollow Farm in the four different seasons ~ really detailed work!  The Canadian geese and whimsical turkey rugs display more of Mary's talent!










My very favorite of all of Mary's rugs is this half-moon shaped seascape!!  Lennie said this was the last rug she hooked and he did all of the embellishments after she died.  This photo does not capture the true beauty of this piece of art!  I loved everything about it ~ the colors ~ the movement ~ the sparkles ~ the pearl buttons as bubbles ~ the hand-carved wooden sea creatures that Lennie did just for this rug! Someday, this will be inspiration for me to hook something  on a smaller scale over a door,  at the lake!  It is a thing of beauty!!

The final picture is a roomsize rug that Mary hooked and it is fabulous!  It's hard to imagine tackling a project that large and with so much detail! To the right of the rug, Mary's granddaughter was sitting in Mary's rocker, hooking on an unfinished rug of her grandmother's.  That was very sweet and she was doing a great job!  I should have gotten her in the shot, but I wanted to get as much of this rug in as possible.  If you double click on the photo and then click on the little plus sign that shows up at the end of your curser, you can really see the detail in all of the photos.

Thank you for reading my posts on Sauder ~ I'm happy to share these rugs with you ~ we're so lucky to be close enough to make it a day trip, if we choose ~ after reading your comments and emails, I value that even more!  This show is well known among rug hookers far and wide and if you have the opportunity, you should put it on  your vacation schedule! 

Have a happy day!
Alice

8 comments:

Crescent Lane Hooker said...

THANK YOU so much for posting these pics and descriptions of the Sauder Village Rug show. I probably will never get to go, but I feel like I have come very close!

Your Catfish rug is marvelous! Cynthia

laurie said...

Yes I would also like to add my thanks for posting the Sauder Village rug pictures. Since I didn't go they are the next best thing to being there:)

newburyarts said...

*****the rugs created by mary s. burton were used on the floor. the only exception in her own collecttion was the mojul taj, which after the fire was hung on the wall. thanks.

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Thanks, Newburyarts ~ they all looked so perfect to me that I didn't realize they were in use!! I appreciated the information ~ possibly it was written somewhere and I skipped right over that! Thanks to all for reading and enjoying these great rugs!

Karen said...

Noah's Ark is awesome!

Jeanne (RED) said...

Alice,
Thank you for all of the Sauder rugs you posted--they were a feast for the eyes! I have never been to the show but maybe someday! Did you perhaps run into Helen Jeffery--she was teaching a braiding class? She is a good friend of mine, she lives in the next town. She was my first hooking teacher! THANKS, again, wonderful woman! Jeanne L from Missouri

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