Larry Weyand, Five Babybels, Briggs & Little yarn, burlap, thread, 2019, photo: Courtesy of the artist
Loops to Live By
First produced as a convenient way to keep your feet warm and your floors clean, hooked rugs have a long history in Canada. This history is particularly rich across Newfoundland and Labrador, where people have hooked wool, silk-stockings and now acrylics for over 150 years. This exhibition follows rug hooking from the early utilitarian crafts and fundraising efforts of the Grenfell Industries through to the present as the practice became increasingly politicized and socially engaged. Contemporary rug hooking reimagines the iconography of popular culture, works through oral histories and intergenerational traumas, and provokes discussion and reflection on the future of the individual within globalism. The exhibition concludes with an immersive installation focusing on the emergent practices of Hannah Epstein and Larry Weyand, two artists who push the practice well beyond traditional materials and expectations.