Felicitously hung, allowing each a luminous presence, Rachelle LeBlanc’s
hooked rugs animate with vibrant color the exhibition space of the Musee
de Kent in Bouctouche,
Calling herself a "failed painter," Rachelle labours to achieve hues
that create an "impressionistic glow." Finding commercial fabric
"lifeless,"
she colors woollen cloth and hand cuts her strips. Hand cutting strips,
she contends, produce a softer "hand" than machine cutting, with
"looser, less predictable" results. Beginning each hooked rug with a
small drawing painted using her children’s water color paints, Rachelle
then transfers the image onto a larger piece of burlap using a permanent
maker. She then uses masking tape to secure the burlap edges to avoid
fraying.
Rachelle started making hooked rugs in 2003 after visiting the
The artiste explains that she uses a latch hook and hooks without a
frame simply because that was the way she learned.
“My art reflects my personality perfectly.
I am a self taught artiste and like thinking outside the box.
My rugs are examples that we do not always need expensive
equipment to make beautiful and lasting art”.
Rachelle’s “Waiting for the Parade”, an image of her Acadian
grand-mother and her best friend is reminiscent of days gone bye.
The background shows the dirt road (now paved) and the fields
where her father played Cowboys and Indians, which once was a common
view from her grandmother front window.
The most stunning of the hooked rugs, “Hopscotch”, was made from a
sketch done while her daughters played in the back yard.
Emanuelle in the striped dress has the stronger character of the two, by
extending her foot into the border; the artiste has captured the
personality of its subjects.
Joining the rug hooking group “ Les Tapestries de Saint-Henry” and the
“Green Mountain Rug Hooking guild” in fall of 2006 to meet people,
Rachelle was immediately inspired and has worked tirelessly ever since,
not only to hone her skills as a hooked rug artiste but also to extend
the medium beyond its conventional limits. Rug hooking, for her, has
become a vehicle for meditation, inspiration, and whimsy.
--Rachelle
LeBlanc
Artiste web
site:
www.hookedrugstudio.com
