I grew up in Freshwater, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, the youngest of seven children. My mother and both of my grandmothers hooked rugs as a pasttime, and as a chore of necessity. By the time I was born both my grandmothers had died and my mother had long since abandoned rug hooking as a chore of poverty. In Newfoundland in the late sixties and early seventies, very few people were hooking, though there was still a scattered mat hanging about people’s back doors.
In addition to hooking rugs, I love to write. I have written seven books about rug hooking and creativity and I am currently working on another featuring daily meditation for rug hookers. I love land, especially fields. I find that a bunch of scrub and brush are beautiful things. It changes all day long with the light and I love to depict this in my work. I want to hang onto as simple a life as I possibly can but I do not find that easy because there are so many charms that are like a ruby to a crow. But it is my goal to live simply, and make hooked rugs that are unmistakably art.
