FREEPORT – At Freeport library, rug hookers meet each week to work.

FREEPORT – With a fine-arts background through a degree from Skidmore College, and after teaching art for nearly 22,000 Brunswick area students before retiring, Ann Galloupe never thought she would be so drawn to the craft known as rug hooking.

“As they say, once you hook, you’re hooked,” said Galloupe.

Armed with strips of wool, linen and a variety of hooks, she is one of 15 “Hillside Hookers” who gather each Tuesday at the Freeport Community Library to participate in an ongoing rug-hooking session.

“It’s a combination of hooking, gossip, exchanging ideas and helping each other. There’s no leader to it, it’s an active group,” said her husband Bob, who is one of the few male participants.

The craft has been around for hundreds of years and became popular immediately following the Civil War, said Galloupe. The earliest known American examples were found in New England, but the craft is thought to have roots as far back as the Vikings. It is especially popular in Canada, where it is considered fine art.

“Back in the 1800s, the women would use grain sacks. When clothing became worn or tattered, they would cut the material into shreds. It was done because the houses were so bare and needed decorating,” Galloupe said. “The preferred choice now is linen.”

The craft is considered primitive and falls within the category of folk art. According to written material supplied by Galloupe, hooking in the 19th century was a country craft, the stepchild to quilting and embroidery, the more refined pursuits of the wealthy. The tools used to pull yarn or fabric through a woven base could be as simple as a nail with a crudely fashioned hook.

Rug-hooking pieces draw considerable interest from antique dealers and pop up occasionally on the popular television program, “Antiques Roadshow.”

In the context of rug hooking, the word rug may be a misnomer, as the Freeport artisans are not creating strictly rugs, but a variety of things including pillows, wall hangings, handbags and mats.

Using her background in watercolor painting, Galloupe starts by sketching a design by hand, though most others use pre-designed patterns available online or through specialty stores. She uses a frame called a “snap dragon,” the equivalent of an easel, to hold the linen in place. The fabric is cut into strips using a mechanical cloth slitter, though strips can be hand cut using nothing more than scissors. The loops of fabric are pulled through the backing material with a crotchet-type hook mounted in a wood handle. The artisan actually leaves the material slightly raised to give the final design a distinct, three-dimensional look.

Depending on the intricacy of the design, the process can take weeks or years, a perfect no-hurry hobby, said Bob Galloupe.

“That’s what I like about it. You can start a design and come back to it after a while,” he said. “You can stop right in the middle of a project. It’s OK.”

For longtime member of the Hillside Hookers Joan Blauvelt of Falmouth, the group fulfills a social component while also keeping the craft alive in the minds of the general public.

“I’ve done everything you can with rug hooking, from being a dealer to teaching,” said the 86-year-old Blauvelt. “It’s important to have this wonderful art form present in a community as a continuation of history. It’s about friendships old and new.”

The Galloupes share a small studio space at their home in Brunswick and travel throughout the state to participate in rug-hooking workshops and to see exhibits.

“We’ve met a lot of people,” said Bob Galloupe. “It’s a friendly group from all over. The Freeport group has people from Scarborough and Pemaquid.”

Ann Galloupe said the art form is gaining in popularity in Maine because of its history in New England and the flexibility the hobby affords in terms of time. Unfortunately, it’s not cheap, she said, with hooks costing upward of $40 each and the mechanical fabric cutters running roughly $500. Both Bob and Ann Galloupe use imported handmade hooks from Ireland, but the cheaper ones – as little as $10 apiece – are perfectly fine.

“It’s not inexpensive. The price of wool is now $23 a yard,” said Ann Galloupe. “A few members of the Freeport group will scour thrift stores looking for old Pendleton shirts or old dresses. They give it a good wash to make sure the bugs are gone. That can keep the cost down.”

She said she learns from others at the Freeport group, but enjoys the fact that most attendees work independently on their own particular projects.

“We are always looking for new people to join,” said Anne. “It’s a creative and challenging hobby but hard to resist once you start.

Ann Galloupe
Ann Galloupe works on one of her rug-hooking designs at her Brunswick studio. Along with her husband Bob, she participates in a weekly gathering of rug hookers at the Freeport Community Library every Tuesday afternoon.
Staff photo by Matt Stilphen

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