The birds of the Baldishol Tapestry return, perched in a tree, in a vibrant hooked rug for the upcoming exhibit at Norway House in Minneapolis, The Baldishol: A Medieval Norwegian Tapestry Inspires Contemporary Textiles.
48″ x 24″
Minneapolis-based artist and writer Mary Logue wrote about her inspiration:
I took a segment of the tapestry to focus on. I have done a number of tree of life images and feel a real affinity to them. Also, April is the month of my birth, so it seemed natural to focus on this section. The dots falling down will be egg shaped and I also changed the words somewhat.
The dots mimic the spots on the Baldishol horse’s back and the pattern in the background of the tapestry. In today’s world, there is a more modern link–the “tufty-ness” of the hooked-rug circles bring to mind all of the recent illustrations of the coronavirus.
Original sketch and colored cartoon
Mary dyed all the wool for her rug with natural dyes—madder for the red, indigo for the blue, false indigo for the green, and goldenrod for the yellow.
In April, in process… Mary says, “Making a rug both feeds me and calms me. I love watching the picture slowly come to life.”
Mary grew up sewing and embroidering, but found her true textile passion in rug hooking, more than 25 years ago. Most of her rugs are influenced by nature—the patterns and landscapes, the flora and fauna. Her rugs have been exhibited in the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts show, in addition to many other galleries and museums. She has had three one-woman shows and her rugs have been featured in several books. In 2017 she did a month-long residency at the Textilsetur (Icelandic Textile Center), resulting in a show of her work. Mary currently teaches rug hooking at the Textile Center of Minnesota and North House Folk School. (See more of her rugs here.)
Today, April 21, is the publication date for Mary’s sixth book of poetry, Heart Wood: Poems.
Mary Logue is also an accomplished author of mysteries, children’s books, nonfiction, and core to her writing–poetry. She has taught writing at the University of Minnesota, the Loft, and Hamline University. “For both teaching writing and hooking,” she wrote, “I am simply trying to help my students find their own best voice.”
In this rug for the Baldishol exhibit, Mary used her wonderful rug-hooking voice to give modern expression to the medieval images. In April come birds! And spring!