Loretta Manning - Rug Hooking - Wool, Velvet, Satin on Linen
I grew up in Grand Desert, an Acadian village on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. Textiles were a part of my family memories. My great aunt spun yarn from her own sheep. She and my grandmother knitted socks and mitts for my lobster fishing grandfather and uncles.
One uncle, who was an amazing folk artist, drew patterns on potato sacks for my grandmother to hook rugs for her kitchen. As a young adult, I spent many weekends in Cape Breton at my in-laws. My mother-in-law, who was also Acadian, gifted me several small Chetticamp style floral hooked rug pieces.
As texture is one of the important elements in my rugs, I use a wide variety of wool yarns as well as wool cloth, velvets, and silks. I also enjoy adding different textures to my rugs to bring more dimension. All of my rugs in the show are hooked on one hundred percent linen and are my designs. There are over 4,000 loops per square foot in each rug and it takes me approximately 4 hours to hook one square foot.
SOLD Calm Beach 48.5 in x 24.2 in
SOLD Stormy Sea 24in x 32in
Gold Shells on the Beach 24in x 24in $575
SOLD Silver Shells on the Beach 24.5in x 24.5in
Pink Sky at Night 16in x 21in $270
Rainy Beach Day 28in x 13in $275
SOLD Summer Sea 12in x 12in
Fall Sea 9.5in x 12in $90
SOLD Cloudy Beach Day 10in x 10in
Shells on the Beach 10in x 10in $80
SOLD - Sunny Beach Day 7in x 7in
SOLD - Blue Sky 5in x 5in
Grey Sky 5in x 5in $40
Favourite Tree in the Winter 10in x 10in $80
Bright Winter Day 10in x 10in $80
Trees on the Hill 10in x 10in $80
Winter in the Woods 10in x 10in $80
SOLD Falling Leaves 12in x 24in
End of Fall 16in x 20in $260
Biography
Afterr ten years working as a legal assistant, I completed one year in the home economics program at Mount Saint Vincent University, and transferred to the University of Alberta where I obtained my BSc and MSc in Clothing and Textiles.
I worked in the museum field in Alberta before returning to Nova Scotia to attend law school at age forty. I practiced law in Halifax at Cox & Palmer until 2017.
In the first year of my retirement, I was re-introduced to rug hooking by a friend who encouraged me to purchase a kit. In January 2019 my real passion for rug hooking began after completing a rug hooking kit from Deanne Fitzpatrick Rug Hooking Studio. I then took numerous rug hooking classes with Deanne and completed several rugs of her designs.
My own contemporary style of rug hooking evolved over the course of the past three years as I took several design, colour, creativity and inspiration classes with Deanne. My contemporary style has also evolved with rug hooking courses taken with Michele Micarelli who I met on-line as a member of the Rug Hooking Guild of Nova Scotia.