'The Spirit in the Mat' of Creative Rug Hooking Artistry

By Deanne Fitzpatrick

When I start a mat, I‘ll just let it flow, and I’ll tell the truth as I see it, knowing you might see it differently and that’s okay. The truth is I don’t know how to get you to put your spirit into your work. I can only speak for myself, and how I do it. I hope that you can get some glimmer of sense from what I am about to tell you.

I know that if you allow yourself to get lost in something, if you are able to get lost in your mat making, if you stop the constant evaluation of your work, then there is a better possibility that exciting things will happen with it. Whenever I start thinking that I must live up to something, that this rug I am working on must be better than the last I hinder myself.

Truth is, I need to forget about what I am doing to do it well. That is what allows me the freedom to express myself fully. If my ego gets in the way, and it sometimes does, like when I start thinking, ”I must make art.” Both me, my work, and everyone who knows me suffers. Stuffiness is a problem and a barrier. Simply put, I must keep saying and feeling, ”I must make rugs.”

Art should just happen. It will happen sometimes and not others. It shouldn’t matter. The idea of art in hooked mats should not be a barrier to us. It should just be a side effect of us doing something as well and as beautifully as we can. We need to make rugs. We need to not have to say we’re making art. If it is art it will be art.

I think the real thing in every part of life for me is to do what I do, and do it as well as I can. I have said that from the beginning of my career in rug hooking. Every time I say 'career in rug hooking', I think it is an oxymoron. I am still excited about what I do. I learned that I have to focus on doing what I do and cut out all the distractions that I can. Over the years I have had many calls from people in rug hooking worried about the way others are doing things and how it reflects on them. All I ever say is, “Do what you know, what you do, and do it as well as you can. Don’t worry about what someone else is doing.” Someone must have said it to me once and it became my own personal wisdom. I try to watch what everyone else is doing. I do that because I am interested in people, but I try not to care too much, and I try not to get involved because I know that my family, my work, and my community take all the energy I have.

I had a friend, Lynda Burke, who died two years ago. She was 48 years old. She died suddenly in her car after leaving a local drugstore. Lynda had many friends and she shared herself, and her ideas easily. She gave away common sense wisdom like old men used to give away peppermints out of the dirty pockets years ago. She was a gifted person. I still hear her tell me, “You do things your way because you think it is the right way, or you would do it some other way.” I always laughed when she said that because it was the straight goods. We do things a certain way because we believe that it is the only really good way. All other ways, she used to say are not as good, because if you thought they were as good you would do them that way too.” I’d throw my head back and laugh again. She said the truth. You have to believe that the way you do things is the right way and you have to commit to it. You don’t have to hate the way other people do things, but you have to stay focused on and believe in your own way of doing things. You have to be supportive of your own ideas. Believe in yourself and your own life.

Last year a woman called me and said, “My sister said to tell you that when she wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep she goes down and reads your website." I said, “Tell your sister I said that when she wakes up in the middle of the night she should wake up her husband, never mind reading my website.“ We both had a great laugh, but my message was that her sister should nurture her own life, what was right in front of her, or beside her whatever the case may be. We need to believe in the value and importance of our own lives, and the way we do things, and what we have around us.

So that is the first thing I know about myself, I keep my focus, and I believe in the way I do things. It is not easy. It means I say no to all kinds of beautiful opportunities. It means I shut out some things that would benefit me. It means I don’t always give others what they want or make them happy. It means I am sometimes selfish. That’s what focused people do. On the one hand their focus delights you, on the other it might disappoint you. I grew up with a father who taught me this. A good lesson, it was hard learned in a much different way, and more valuable to me than I might have ever imagined. I need to have faith in myself. In the beginning the faith was built upon a wing and a prayer, and a bit of bravado. Now I sometimes build it on the fact that I have had success in the past. That is encouraging. Though when it comes right down to the nitty gritty, and I’m feeling kind of shaky about a new idea, or a complex rug, I just sit down wherever I am, hold my chin up with my hands, look down at my sneakers, and think, “You know I like my mats, they’re kind of pretty.” That is what gives me the real strength to go on and create new things. I love what I do and I believe in what I do. I don’t take it too seriously. I don’t believe that I, or my work is important in any fancy way that because all that “art box” mentality is really nonsense. When I question myself I know that I just need to make the mat, to hook the rug, get back at it and forget the foolishness. I always think well if you make a really great mat who knows what might happen, knowing that the real deal is when you can give yourself a shiver with your own work.

That happens every once in a while, right rare it is let me tell you. I remember the first time it happened. It was the rug that I eventually sold to the AGNS for their permanent collection. I looked at it and I thought, “I don’t think I really made that.” It was the first time I understood that art is made by your own spirit as much as it is made by your hands. It was a revelation for me. Now every once in a while I get that feeling that I want to do a little dance because of the way the wools are working together, or the way the thing looks all together. The truth is that is a wonderful motivation. It is the drive for ”the shiver.” I don’t get that feeling easily in my mats, but when I do it is one of the most pleasant feelings I have ever experienced. It is also the foundation of my confidence. I know I can get it again because I got it before. I am me, and that is all I am, and it is all I have to give the mats. No big fancy stuff, just make the mat.

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About the Author | More by Deanne Fitzpatrick
Deanne Fitzpatrick is a member of the Editorial Board of Rug Hooking magazine and has been the subject of a television documentary and features on national radio shows. Her credits include numerous magazines, solo exhibits, and authoring several rug hooking books including Hook Me a Story, a History and Method of Rug Hooking in Atlantic Canada. Learn more about Deanna and her beautiful works of art by visiting HookingRugs.com.

12/27/08