Exhibit Statement
As background, along with an interest in history and nature, family members taught me sewing, knitting, and embroidery,. These crafts were personal. When I was 40 and learned rug hooking an art business evolved. A hook, recycled wool fabric, an open weave backing, and a frame to keep the foundation taut while working, is all that is needed to start. Hours later a rug for the floor, table runner, small mat or, eventually as my design skills developed, painterly works for the walls are completed.
This exhibit covers my three decade journey from maker to studio artist.
For the first 15 years the rug hooking patterns I designed and sold were based on frakturs - folk art - TRADITIONS. Most people think of a basket of flowers, patriotic motifs, geometric hit-or-miss when hearing I rug hook. Writing a book exploring design with the elements and principles as building blocks, Design Basics for Rug Hookers, gave me confidence to add my own personality. These more recent works focus on the themes of nature and advocacy illustrated in CONTEMPORARY designs. I enjoy repeating the same drawing using different techniques and scale, simplifying but still telling a story. The slow hands-on rhythmic actions are cathartic and distracting from the angst of daily “scrolling”.
Decorative crafts - fiber arts- have been ignored by critics as women’s work until the 1960’s. Yet Blanche Lazzell and Marguerite Zorach in the 1920’s, purposefully submitted rug hooking into national shows. I am thankful West Virginia heralds fine craft alongside fine arts in the 21st Century.
Channeling generations of craftspeople as I work and mentoring the next generation, my passions for history and art are satisfied. I hope you enjoy seeing life through my craft, perhaps picking up a hook or needle too. Reach out to me for resources.
Susan Feller
FOLK ART DESIGNS
Holiday Bouquet, 2015
38” x 18”, rug hooking the Dec. 25, 2014 sketch in a YearStudy was five eggs, a flower emerged into this pattern.
4
Autumn Friends, 2002
28” x 54” rug hooking designed from sketch of antique rug (changed center motif)
Maggie’s Penny Runner, 2008 most popular Ruckman Mill Farm rug hooking pattern
18” x 54” wonderful table runner size, design influenced by frakturs, hand-dyed wool
Summer Bouquet, 2012
24” x 36” rug hooking and braiding composition follows fraktur style: irregular borders, flowers, bug, basket motifs all found in DESIGN IN A BOX-Frakturs
bright colors hand-dyed wool, ombre off-the-bolt
Big Squares, Small Squares, 2008
24” x 54” rug hooking alternate light, dark squares with three different fabrics in each - study in VALUE
Adam and Eve 2000 Into the Garden 2016
20” x 20” pillow rug hooking wool fabric; weaving, applique’, embroidery, upholstery fabric
Design is the first abstract I created. I named it when completed.
Juried by Mary Sheppard Burton in Hooked in the 21st Century Textile Center of Minnesota 2001
Back has fabric strips from front woven and pinned on cloth in 2000. Finally, the pillow was completed in 2016 because of my study of McDonald sisters of Gilmer County’s applique’ and embroidery and the fraktur motifs from years of rug designs.
Ruckman Mill Farm is the rug hooking business I developed in 1997 to sell patterns to rug hooking enthusiasts. I added wool fabric dyed with my own recipes when I realized buyers of the patterns would be searching for fabric. The recipes began with Fraktur Colors matching the watercolors on illuminated documents of the Pennsylvania Germans. I added a second group, Flora and Fauna, of warm colors and a third Sustainable Gardening of bright colors inspired by our garden crops.
The workshops I lead designing a personal rug with fraktur motifs were very popular. In 2011 I put 100 templates and directions plus historical resources into a product - Design in a Box, Frakturs. Now you can create a unique rug pattern at home.
The line of 200 rug hooking patterns, dye recipes and Design in a Box were sold to a Vermont company and are now owned by Spruce Ridge Studios in Michigan. If you rug hook, the Holiday or Summer Bouquet, Maggie’s Penny Runner patterns or Adam and Eve templates can be purchased by contacting Kris Miller at SpruceRidgeStudios.com
ADVOCATING FOR NATURE
My muse has always been nature. We live in the Potomac Highlands surrounded by woods and mountains. Human impact on these treasures is evident in highway expansion, power/pipe lines and in southern WV, mountaintop removal. My art speaks for the trees, flora, and wildlife, calling humans to be conscious of the impact our use of energy, data, and speed has. Slow down.
Seneca Rocks #3 2019
16” x 12” framed, rug hooking, embroidery, applique’, paint
As in many other designs I created several versions, exploring styles in different sizes, techniques, and mediums. This was my favorite and most challenging to convey the hike up to Seneca Rocks using fabric, hook, paint and needle.
Exhibited at 2019 Invitational WV Artists, Clay Center; WV Juried Biennial, 2019, catalog; Art in Embassies - US Embassy Uruguay 2023-25 catalog
My Mountain State 2011
11” x 26” rug hooking I challenged myself to use the cool colors sorted into light, medium and dark values. First pulled dark loops in a wandering pathit looked like the beginning of a Mountain.
Merit Award Best of West Virginia 2011, Tamarack 2012 Tamarack calendar
Early Summer 2003
14” x 14” framed, applique’, lace, yarns, ribbon, wool fabric, embroidery, knitting
Lavender, Lamb’s Ear, lettuce, dill flowers
Late
Summer 2004
14” x 14” framed, beads, argyle sweater, woo roving, fabric, needle felting, rug hooking
The color palette of haying season
Spring, Winter and Fall have all sold. It was a fun collection of abstract work while I was immersed in the folk art pattern making. A decade later that line was sold and I revisited the freedom of art making in a studio. A new network of creatives in West Virginia welcomed me.
Miss Mountaintop Removal 2023
20” x 16” framed, collage, metal, beads, rug hooking and punch needle, applique’
Notecards available
Inspired by Boom, Boom: The Video on YouTube by Douglas John Imbrogno including activist Paul Corbit Brown’s mountaintop removal aerial photography and a poem by Chrystal Brown relating extraction of coal to strip tease performers, Miss Mountaintop Removal captures reality.
The stripping of Appalachian natural resources is decades old. Coal, oil, gas, lumber and our population are commodities for outside corporations endorsed by legislature. The jewel colors for the forests, silver as water and Starbucks packaging depict the path to the State Capital and outof-state consumers of coal and energy.
My expectation is for this work to spur awareness, conversation and action. It is part of my focus on human impact on the environment.
Summer, Fall and Winter Along the New River in West Virginia 2021 (Spring has sold) 10” x 20” framed rug hooking, embroidery
Each version “loosely” defines the river’s path westward merging with the Gauley River to form the Kanawha flowing into the Ohio. There are blackened spots in the seasonal foliage for mountaintop removal sites which scar our geography.
Fall WV Juried Biennial 2021-22 State Museum, Charleston; catalog
Winter published 2022 WV Arts & Culture
Full set exhibited in Voices from West Virginia, the Dairy Barn, Athens, OH 2023
<— Trees in Our Woods 2019
68” x 31” x 2” rug hooking, applique’, embroidery, framed Invitational WV Artists, Clay Center 2019 ; Hooked by Design, Wisconsin Quilt & Fiber Art Museum, 2021 catalog (Color in Trees also in both exhibits)
Color in Trees 2019
36” x 18” x 2” rug hooking, framed
Inspired to make a LARGE piece for the Invitational I began with the realistic version. The backgrounds use plaids separated by value. I select fabric knowing textured wools offer multiple values and how to use this when “painting”. The next two versions were reduced in half each time. Included in article Trees are My Inspiration N/D 2019 RHM
Trees in our Forest 2020
17” x 11” x 3” frame by Jim Lilly rug hooking, applique’, paint
22” x 14” rug hooking, braiding
22” x 21” rug hooking, braiding
These two, and a center piece, were originally a long runner inspired by the light and shadows on leaves, branches, mosses in our woods. The piece took weeks to create and I kept thinking it didn’t quite flow together. SO I cut it into three distinct parts and have enjoyed arranging them on exhibit walls. I am most proud of the multi-braiding skill used to portray oak branches.
Forest Floor #1 2019
Forest Floor #3 2019
Buckeye Leaves 2019 rug hooking, upholstery fabric, wire
Virginia Creeper 2019 rug hooking, quilting, embroidery, wire Maple Leaves 2019 quilting with cotton/wool, wire, embroidery all are 20” x 20” framed
Buckeye Leaves Invitational WV Artists, Clay Center 2019
All three were exhibited in Journeys, Beckley Art Center 2020
The premise for these was to explore the background with different materials and techniques. I used values and color for light and shadows. Each motif is dimensional. Article in Rug Hooking Magazine N/D 2019 Trees are My Inspiration.
Enjoying the View 2015
15” x 12” framed, rug hooking, button, applique’ The linear hooking style evolved during the Year Study I undertook as I approached 60. Exploring color and value lead to backgrounds filled with shapes hooked in straight rows. Horizontal sky in this piece and a cluster of round trees in the foreground on left change up the design.
Preparing to Nest 2012
9” x 28” framed, rug hooking with a linen thread Linear hooking again for the geometric background and curving lines in the bodies. Published in article with three colorways J/J/A 2013 Rug Hooking Magazine free pattern
SPEAKING OUT FOR EQUALITY AND DEMOCRACY
Pussycats Pillow Talk #1 2017
abstract cat motifs on a traditional hit-or-miss design, one boldly outlined in pink. I began a political series in response to administrative attacks on Democracy.
page 16
Text: Climate Change is Real; NO means NO; Elected to Govern not Preach; Listen don’t dictate; EQUAL, women’s freedoms; EQUAL rights; Your Body, Your Choice; RESIST
She PERSISTED, 2017
12” x 16” pillow
On February 8, 2017 Senator Elizabeth Warren tried to read into Congressional records words spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr. and was prevented. She ended up reading them outside“Nevertheless she PERSISTED” can be used to look up the event. It became a rallying call for feminism.
Young American, is a rug hooking pattern I designed inspired by an early 19th C fraktur.
LOVE ALL, 2018 12” x 16” pillow
Hearts and pussycats motifs on a traditional rag rug background are happy images.
The fabric with people walking together was bought in Berkley, CA at Stone Mountain & Daughter Fabrics.
LOVE ALL celebrates that place and a goal.
#METOO, 2020
12” x 16”
Victims in Harvey Weinstein abuse case testified and the judge on February 24, 2020 declared “Rape is RAPE is rape”.
The tulip design- a symbol of love and affection - is from the Mennonite Heritage Center, mhep.org collection of fraktur drawings. I made it into a rug hooking pattern, available through SpruceRidgeStudios.com
EQUAL Rights, 2019
12” x 16” pillow
A pussycat looks out through a fence. Pink fabric and an embroidered cat outline emphasize the words on back. NO means NO; Rights; We; Peace; Equality, Earth, Resist
PEACE not WAR, 2018 14” x 18” pillow words ringing the edge on front: Peace for All on Earth Now each generation shouts this message.
Civil Defense symbol from 1950’s, Peace sign, Red Cross, PEACE NOT WAR NOW
This is assembled around tin cans honoring my research of the McDonald sisters of Gilmer County, WV. See tab on my website /McDonalds
HOME, 2025
12” x 16” x 4” footstool
rug hooking, embroidery, Family Heirlooms fabric surrounding tin cans
We live in a log home. The words are laid out in a Log Cabin quilt pattern. Traditionally the center square is red depicting the warmth of a burning fire inside. The words I chose define purpose, and variety of feelings for HOME.
Iconic Liberty 2006 18” x 24” rug hooking, needle felting, embroidery, novelty yarn, hand-dyed wool Celebration XVII juried finalist 2007 pub Stackpole books; Beyond Rugs! Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland ME 2011 catalog; 1st Place WVDAR American Heritage 2013; The Beauty & Influence of Appalachia, Cleveland OH 2024 catalog (with full Iconic Series)
Designed honoring my Grandmother and all who were able to vote because of the 19th Amendment in 1920
Iconic ERA* 2016 18” x 24” Girl Scout badges, embroidery, rug hooking, braiding, applique’ Women of Appalachia Project, 2018; Cleveland OH exhibit Autobiographical
Iconic VOTE 2016 18” x 24” crochet doily, rug hooking, paint, embroidery Cleveland OH exhibit The women I voted for are named around the circle with I VOTED, AND YOU in red
*Iconic ERA is not included in exhibit.
Protest - VOTE 2020
20” x 20” banner hooked in suffrage colors, VOTE pin can be worn.
Thru the Ages 2020
20” x 20” framed templates from Design in a BoxEve, a European and an Eastern female all races make up the USA
“Your Vote Counts” fabric backs both
June 14, 2025, No Kings #1
Susan Feller, Artist, Author, Advocate
Raised in the New Jersey Appalachian Highlands, Susan learned handicrafts from family, explored her rural environs, and earned life skills through Girl Scouting.
A BFA from UMass/Boston and interest in history intertwined in 1994 when she was shown how to rughook. The craft’s traditions and ease in using the tools and materials lead to designs based on folk art motifs and a pattern line, Ruckman Mill Farm, recently sold to Spruce Ridge Studios. The art knowledge was integral in writing Design Basics for Rug Hookers, published by Stackpole Books in 2011. She teaches using the elements and principles of design and encourages experimenting with materials, techniques and composition.
Settled in West Virginia since 2006, in the log home she and her partner built, Susan uses her fiber art to bring attention to the delicate balance between human need for progress and the limited natural resources we deplete for those benefits. The work shows the beauty of the region yet, when reading each title and description, asks viewers to think of their impact on our environment.
Her work has been juried into national exhibits and is in private collections, the State Museum of West Virginia, and the US Department of State’s Art in Embassies program.
An advocate for the arts throughout Appalachia she has served on review boards awarding grants and fellowships supporting individuals and organizations in the region. Curating exhibits featuring her own work or other makers and their stories brings the fiber arts to the attention of new audiences. These efforts assure contemporary traditions will continue into the future.
Follow on social media IG @ArtWools and BlueSky @sfeller24.bsky.social
Learn more on web at
detail: Summer Bouquet, Susan Feller rug hooking with hand-dyed wool fabric
back cover Left: Adam and Eve, rug hooking 2000
Right: Into the Garden, weaving, applique’, embroidery 2016 page 26
Our home is where I create .
