Let’s Keep in Touch: Hooked Rag Rug Workshop

Join textile designer Christine Brimer for a hands-on workshop learning this highly resourceful craft practice, and create your own hooked rug inspired by the work of Beatrice Cross.

Beatrice Cross began rug making in a pragmatic attempt to dress the bare floors of her home. What followed was 25 years of rag rug making which redefined the art of the rag rug, taking it out of its homely, crafty origins and repositioning it firmly in the field of contemporary art.

In this workshop you’ll learn how to select and repurpose found fabrics, become familiar with hooking technique and create a small sample rug basing your design on the colourful semaphore signalling flags used by the Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRENS) stationed on Matiu Somes Island during WWII.

About the artist

Christine Brimer is a Wellington based weaver and textile designer with an interest in why and how crafted works are made – the materials, the process, the context and the maker. In her studio practice she weaves with wool from naturally coloured sheep, grown and processed in New Zealand. Her structural designs evoke the play of light and shadow, reflecting the forms and textures of New Zealand landscapes. Her studio looks out across Lyall Bay, with a working loom and set of table looms warped up for small group workshops.

This workshop is part of Can’t Be Together, an exhibition exploring the notion of togetherness in its various forms. Featuring a quirky combination of artworks from The Dowse Collection, each individual work speaks to the need for us to express our connections to one another.
On until November 1.