Board of Directors

Board of Directors
(Click rugs to enlarge)

Emily Robertson President		"Rug hooking found me around 16 years ago. Its addition to my life has opened up opportunities and experiences that have been some of the best parts of my entire life. I have found the medium of rug hooking allows me to try virtually any idea that comes to mind (some with better results than others). Recently I changed my rug hooking focus from houses and gardens to rugs with a message. It's fun to try new paths,but retain the fundamental principles of rug hooking. As your new guild president I will be keeping that focus on the new while enjoying the traditional. It is my sincere wish to visit each of the hooking groups listed in our newsletter during my tenure and to listen to what each and every one of you has to suggest for the betterment of our wonderful guild."
Suzanne Dirmaier Vice President		"I am happy to be back on the board after a long hiatus. My hooking life dates back to 1985 when the guild was a very different organization. It has been exciting to see the growth and positive changes that have occurred since then. I can’t wait to shake my day job someday and hook full time. In the meantime I will steal away as much as I can. I live in Waterbury Center with my husband Greg and tons of wool just waiting to be hooked."
Elizabeth Morgan Secretary		"I have been hooking rugs for 12 years and am a certified MGown instructor and Oxford Punch Needle instructor. I teach in my home studio in Wallingford, Vermont. The Heddwch Farm Hookers meet at my home every Wednesday from 10-4. I enjoy stretching myself with every rug I make and love to keep learning. My other craft interests include knitting, needle felting, mini punch, penny rug making, and spinning. I live with my retired husband on a farm where we raise sheep and llamas. There just isn't enough time to do all I love to do."
Mary Lee O'Connor Treasurer		Mary Lee says, “I live in Charlton, New York with my husband, Dave, our daughter Katherine, son Ian, and our dog and two cats. I stumbled into rug hooking nine years ago when I inherited one of the rugs my Grandmother hooked. At a luncheon I was attending, I mentioned the rug and that I needed to clean it, but did not know the best way to go about it. A lovely older woman told me that she knew a wonderful rughooker from Charlton (I live in Charlton!) and that she lived on Sweetman Road (I live on Sweetman Road!!). She gave me her name and encouraged me to contact her. I did and now I am one of the few, and very lucky students of Jule Marie Smith. Jule has so lovingly encouraged me. I could not imagine me not doing this amazing art for the rest of my life. I have volunteered as a treasurer for more than seven different organizations, many involving my children's schools, a summer pool, Herb Group, and currently, an Education Foundation which gives educational grants for our local children.”
Jane Griswold Membership		I started hooking about 10 years ago. I took a punchneedle class from Amy Oxford and while I liked the speed of the punchneedle, I kept going back to fondling the wool fabric. I took a class from Dick LaBarge and that did it. I have been hooking ever since. Since retiring from teaching, I have been able to hook each Wednesday at Elizabeth Morgan's house in Wallingford. It is wonderful to be able to get together with a group of women who have similar interests. I tend to be drawn to any craft that involves wool fibers-penny rugs, sock knitting (I am addicted), etc. I can't imagine life without all of my fiber projects-some finished, some not!
Jule Marie Smith Hooked in the Mountains XIII Chair		Jule learned at her grandmother’s knee about painting and looking at nature and, like her grandmother, she is a gardener, artist, teacher, musician, traveler, and reader – a person thirsty for knowledge and experience. As an artist, Jule creates her own designs using multiple colors and textures available from the wool she dyes. She works in her studio at home and is demand countrywide, as a teacher and colorist. She writes, “Could I ever become a person of three reds, two purples, and one yellow? It’s doubtful. I enjoy creating with those 20 reds, 30 purples and 40 yellows.”
Lisa Mims Program Chair		Lisa has been hooking rugs for about 4 1⁄2 years. She was so happy to participate in the “Art of Playing Cards” exhibit (Lisa designed and hooked the “suits” shown in her photo) and has introduced her Girl Scout troop to the joy of rug hooking. Lisa will be teaching rug hooking at her daughter’s school to children in the fifth through seventh grade, and hopes to have them complete a raffle rug to benefit the school’s art program. She will also be teaching a children’s class at a local museum in her town, Flemington, New Jersey. Lisa has been traveling to Vermont with her family since she was a child, and hopes to have a home there one day.
Sara Burghoff Newsletter Chair		"My grandmother taught me how to hook and how to use a cutter when I was 6 years old. I completed my first (ugly!) hooked rug in 1994. It took me 8 years to hook it. I thought I was the only hooker alive. When the internet became available to me, the first thing I looked up was rug hooking. Through the internet I made friends with a hooker who coincidentally was also in Vermont. She introduced me to my wonderful Richmond hooking friends and the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild around 1995. What a difference these wonderful people have made in my life!
Cheryl Connor Education Chair		Cheryl says, “I am a judge at the Addison County (Vermont) Fair in the arts and crafts department. It was there that I met up with Amy Oxford judging hooked rugs. I was so amazed at the beautiful rugs and the artistic abilities of the rug hookers that I signed up for Amy's class at Frog Hollow Vermont State Craft Center. I made my first rug, a chicken and eggs rug. The second class I took with Amy, I made a five foot window seat rug I called the "view out my window." This rug won a grand prize rosette at the Addison Fair. Since then, I have taken courses in traditional hooking during the “Hooked in the Mountains” Show. I have been sharing my love of rug hooking with children by teaching classes at St. Mary's School in Middlebury, VT, at their summer camp program. I am thrilled that my students have entered their rugs at the Addison Fair and won blue ribbons each year. This year I hope to influence guild members to teach children and to spread their love of hooking.” Cheryl lives in Bridport, Vermont. In addition to Cheryl’s rug depicting a Vermont farm, examples of pieces hooked by her students are also shown (below). The student pieces shown here were hooked with kits provided by the Education Committee of the Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild.