The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Local artist to demonstrate her craft
Embroidery demo to be held 6 p.m. Monday at Manchester library
By Alana West, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2007
With their completed needlework laid out before them in glowing, colorful images, Jan Sullivan and Karen Berg joined Manchester-area artist Margaret Shaw in discussing designs for their next project in a class at the Riverfolk Community Arts Center Feb. 15.
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After only two classes with Shaw, teacher of the rug punch class at the center, both Berg and Sullivan are delighted with the ease of learning the new technique, which uses a special tool to form loops of colored yarn to create the design.
Shaw will sign her book, "Punch Needle Embroidery –– 40 Folk Art Designs," which she co-authored with Barbara Kemp, and demonstrate her work 6 p.m. Monday at the Manchester District Library.
"The hardest part was choosing the colors from her wonderful basket of yarn," Sullivan said.
"It goes pretty fast, and is easy to do," said Berg, taking out a punch needle threaded with the heavy wool yarn and pushing it into the canvas. In a few minutes, she has made several Berber-style loops on the cloth.
"It doesn't look like much at first," she said.
Then she shows her first project, a still-life in varying colors of the looped wool depicting three stylized flowers in a vase. Both Sullivan and Berg used the same pattern for their project. But because they each used different colors and portrayed the flowers differently, they interpreted the pattern in a unique way.
Shaw said she learned painting in high school and college. When she turned to needlework, she decided to design patterns similar to the images she liked to paint. The themes of traditional folk art are her favorite subjects, from nature to farm life.
Shaw uses 100 percent wool yarn, which she dyes herself. The wool is left from a period when she wove textiles, and needed to use it up or give it away. She opted to use it in a new art form, which helps her express her philosophy of making do with what she has.
"My inspiration comes from my mother and great-grandmother making things with what was available to them," she said.
Shaw watched them sew clothing and slipcovers for their sofas, or knit. Her own first expressions of art were through knitting and crocheting, which came out of her need to make things.
"It was a way for them to fulfill their need for aesthetics in their environment," she said.
Shaw has a bachelor's degree in ceramics and textiles. She began studying for her teacher's certificate, but found that what she wanted to learn about was not regarded as art, namely sewing and quilting and folk art.
Shaw took painting and drawing classes, but when she came up with the idea to make a painted floor cloth, she was not encouraged to pursue it.
"I always gravitated toward things not really taught in college … It was a challenge what to bring in to get credit," she said.
When she creates her art, she likes to recycle, finding new uses for things she already has in her possession.
"I find that the creative spirit comes out because people have a need. That's why I like folk art, because the untrained person does it, because they have a need," she said.
"If I had to go buy everything new (such as new yarn), I could not be half so creative. I would find that artificial," she said.
Shaw's husband, Kerry Sandford, who owns A.K.A. Sandford, a business that helps set up recycling centers across the state, including the first one in Ann Arbor.
Many of her paintings are done on salvaged materials. Perfection is not what Shaw strives for in her artistic work.
"When I first started painting on salvage, my husband wanted me to finish the edges. But I didn't want to make them refined and pretty … To me, it was aesthetically pleasing to have this board with imperfections in it."
Shaw believes that many people who have no experience with art sometimes think that they have to have everything perfect.
"But it doesn't have to be perfect. Part of the artistic process is in the doing, not just the end product," she said. "For me, the process is more important than the end product. You just have to do it."
Shaw has found that her favorite pieces are not the ones that sell first.
"But I'm willing to do the work, and let others decide the value of it," she said.
Meanwhile, her students are highly satisfied with their new skills. Sullivan said that rug-punching is easier than needlepoint.
"You don't have to keep track of things. It's more intuitive, not tiny like cross-stitch," she said.
Berg said it's easy to remove mistakes or change a color.
"It pulls out very easily. You can pull it out again, if you don't like the color. It isn't like you were spending hours and hours (on one seam), and you don't want to take it out," she said.
Berg is planning a larger rug that Shaw designed based on a picture of Shaw's. The design includes a bird and a watermelon.
Sullivan's new work may include a claddaugh, an Irish symbol that means love, friendship and loyalty.
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