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RHGNL Gallery OUTREACH TO LABRADOR - MAT HOOKING PROJECT COMPLETED by Joan Foster After almost two years of effort, the Outreach to Labrador - Mat Hooking Project is finally completed. In December, 2009 an application was submitted by the Labrador Straits Development Corporation for funding from the Craft Industry Development Program to offer two workshops in Labrador - one at L’Anse Au Loup and one at Mary’s Harbour. The workshops were sponsored jointly by that Board (straits area), by the Southern Aurora Development Board (coastal region) and by our Guild. So in late February I set off with the van loaded with teaching materials and supplies to take a 12-hour ferry ride on the MV Sir Robert Bond, from Corner Brook to Blanc Sablon for another adventure in mat hooking.
Ten ladies participated in the L’Anse Au Loup workshop which ran from Feb. 24 to 28 for a total of 30 hours and eleven in Mary’s Harbour from March 1 to 4 for 24 hours. Topics covered included the basics of traditional mat hooking with each person completing a 10" x 10" sampler; a brief introduction to design, color planning, dyeing as well as discussion of copyright, quality control, pricing; and each person prepared burlap and put on a design for a floor mat. Most of the participants were beginners. All were very enthusiastic and so anxious to learn the traditional skill.
Our generous Guild member Betty Hill offered to donate a year’s subscription to Rug Hooking magazine for each area. These will be sent to the Library in L’Anse Au Loup and to the President of the Anglican Church Women’s group in Mary’s Harbour as there is no library there. The Guild donated two copies of our book Hooked Mats of Newfoundland and Labrador: Beauty Born of Necessity which were won by Michelle Normore-Ryland and Joan Rumbolt. While in Labrador, I was able to register five very old mats including two Grenfells and a beautiful very large mat which had been hooked for the Anglican Church in Henley Harbour. It was rescued by a former resident more than 25 years after the community had been resettled.
For me this was an absolutely
unforgettable trip - from arriving on a spring-like day of beautiful sunshine
and absolutely no snow on the ground (Labrador in February!!!) to the drive
across vast open spaces into a snow covered world where the road closed shortly
after we passed through because of drifting snow filling the rock cuts. That as
well as having the opportunity to help revive a traditional skill previously
well known on the Labrador coast made for a trip I won’t soon forget!
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