My fibre art  expands on traditional hooking techniques with yarn to tell my stories of a modern woman and mother. I am inspired by Nature as a refuge of truth, where beauty exists whether or not you are observant to see it, and strength persists on its own merits, regardless of your opinion of it.  I enjoy the potential of the more unconventional side of Nature’s palette, like her browns, greens and yellows, and I am alert to the energy of the electric colours of urban life.

My art changes as I grow; I concern myself with expressing my ideas and not with perfecting how anything is done.  I reflect the oppressions of tradition, that art must be done in particular ways, and that as a woman I should live my life in certain ways and be grateful for the appropriate things.  I will use anything that I can find at hand and any technique in my fibre art- whether yarn or old beach rope, from weaving or stitching to painting or dyeing- and I will say what I feel about life, motherhood and the environment in which we live.  Life can try to pull me back; only I can push myself forward.

Contact Karen at marzipanroad@bell.net

Career Highlights

Major Exhibitions and Awards

• Featured Artist (Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Annual, Ottawa, Ontario, 2018)
• First Place, Original Designs for “A Mother’s Worry” (Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Annual, 2018)
• Three time finalist and one time Honourable Mention in Celebration of Hand-Hooked Rugs, 2013-2017
• Postcards from Newfoundland: Rug-Hooking the Rock (solo exhibition, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, 2015)
• Frame / fraym (solo exhibition with the generous support of ARTicipate grant from the AOE Arts Council, Ottawa, Ontario, 2015)
• Celebrating Colour in Fibre (group exhibition with five other Canadian fibre artists, Toronto, Ontario, 2015)
• Colours Caught in Fibre (group exhibition with four other Canadian fibre artists, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, 2014)
• Viewer’s Choice Award for “Solitude” (Hooked in the Mountains XVI, Shelburne, Vermont, 2012)

Select Publications

• Eyes Open to the World: Memories of Travel in Wool (Ampry Publishing, November 2019). Click to buy on Amazon and at Rug Hooking Magazine.
• Six articles in Rug Hooking Magazine from 2016-2019
  • Snapshots from Wonderland: A Walk Through My Garden
  • Celebrating My Two Loves: Hooking Portraits in Yarn
  • How to Hook With Yarn: Just Do It!
  • Postcards from Newfoundland: Island Dreams in Wool
  • From Little Hands: Hooking with Children
  • Breaking the Frame: Hooking Past My Limits
• Three articles in A Needle Pulling Thread Magazine from 2016-2017
  • Artist Review: Twisted
  • Artist Review: Through the Trees
  • Artist Review: Beyond Swallowtail
• Also featured in Little U Magazine, Uppercase Magazine, Designed by You: Ideas and Inspirations for Rug Hookers (Tamara Pavich, 2017), Celebration of Hand-Hooked Rugs XXIII, XXIV, XXV and XXVII (Debra Smith (editor)), Ontario Hooking Craft Guild magazine, and more.

Teaching and Community Involvement

• Teacher at:
  • Fibrefest (Almonte, Ontario, 2018)
  • Green Mountain Rug School (Montpelier, Vermont, 2018)
  • Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Annual (Ottawa, Ontario, 2018)
• Teacher of beginning and advanced courses for adults from my studio and at guild events since 2015
• Course PDF “Hand Woven and Hand Hooked: Creating Woven Backgrounds for Hooked Fibre Art” available on Etsy here.
• Teacher for children at schools and Scouts Canada events since 2015