Retired high school art teacher, Johnna M. Ritchie has dabbled in all things art-related fromdrawing to painting, ceramics to sculpture, photography to mosaics, fibers and printmaking.
She has gained proficiency in various media so that she could assist her students in building their skills to aid their creativity. She has always been intrigued with fibers and until two years ago, had never tried rug hooking, a skill of her mother and her mother’s mother. She got hooked.
In rug hooking, she is mostly self-taught with the aid of published guides and encouragement from fellow hookers. Her hope is to use her years of artistic knowledge and drawing to help her translate portraits into realistic interpretations in the media of rug hooking. She uses hand-dyed, thrifted and purchased woven wool cut into very thin strips to create the form, line and value of the person’s face and features using small loops pulled through a linen fabric.
In her demonstration, she will show the evolution of her rug hooking development and theknowledge gained and current project(s) in progress.