February 22, 2011

In October, Gene Odato, District Forester, met with Kathy Wright, Director of Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village, while she was doing research in Perry County for an upcoming publication and exhibit on Magdalena Briner Eby’s hooked rugs. Gene was inspired by the story and hooked rugs; he was even more intrigued to learn that Magdalena had once lived on the property that is now the Tuscarora State Forest. His interest led him to contact Sharon Lee of Community Partnerships RC&D administrators of the PA Quilt Trails to inquire about a “Trail Rug” for the State Forest.

The Quilt Trail, a national project commonly referred to as “Quilt Trails”, creates squares (usually 8’ x 8’) which mimic the design and colors of a particular quilt square and then mounts them on structures across the countryside. Gene then contacted Rug Hooking Magazine’s Editor, Debra Smith, who also lives in Perry County. The magazine was very enthusiastic about the project and generously offered to sponsor the “Trail Rug”. The first “Trail Rug” of the PA Quilt Trails will be unveiled summer of 2011 at the Tuscarora State Forest District Office on Route 274 in Perry County, Pennsylvania.

The “Trail Rug” design for the Tuscarora State Forest was selected from one of Magdalena’s hooked rugs from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s and which now belongs to one of her descendants. The unveiling of the “Trail Rug” will not only commemorate the craftsmanship of this creative Perry Countian but also the strong Pennsylvania connection to the folk art of rug hooking.

Magdalena was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania in 1832 where she designed and hooked rugs from about 1850 to the early 1900’s. These rugs were created for utilitarian purposes and used throughout the home as floor mats. The materials used were mainly old clothing as nothing went to waste at that time. Today Magdalena’s hooked rugs are treasured and highly sought after by avid collectors of American folk art and antiques.

An exhibit and publication featuring the life and hooked rugs of Magdalena Briner Eby will debut August 17-20, 2011 at Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio. This exhibit and publication are the culmination of many years of research and planning by Evelyn Lawrence, respected rug hooker and teacher, and Kathy Wright, Director of Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village.

February 14, 2011

For Valentine's Day

POEM
Returning Native

by John Updike

What can you say about Pennsylvania
in regard to New England except that
it is slightly less cold, and less rocky,
or rather that the rocks are different?
Redder, and gritty, and piled up here and there,
whether as glacial moraine or collapsed springhouse
is not easy to tell, so quickly
are human efforts bundled back into nature.

In fall, the trees turn yellower—
hard maple, hickory, and oak
give way to tulip poplar, black walnut,
and locust. The woods are overgrown
with wild-grape vines, and with greenbrier
spreading its low net of anxious small claws.
In warm November, the mulching forest floor
smells like a rotting animal.

A genial pulpiness, in short: the sky
is soft with haze and paper-gray
even as the sun shines, and the rain
falls soft on the shoulders of farmers
while the children keep on playing,
their heads of hair beaded like spider webs.
A deep-dyed blur softens the bleak cities
whose people palaver in prolonged vowels.

There is a secret here, some death-defying joke
the eyes, the knuckles, the bellies imply—
a suet of consolation fetched straight
from the slaughterhouse and hung out
for chickadees to peck in the lee of the spruce,
where the husks of sunflower seeds
and the peace-signs of bird feet crowd
the snow that barely masks the still-green grass.

I knew that secret once, and have forgotten.
The death-defying secret—it rises
toward me like a dog’s gaze, loving
but bewildered. When winter sits cold and black
on Boston’s granite hills, in Philly,
slumped between its two polluted rivers,
warmth’s shadow leans close to the wall
and gets the cement to deliver a kiss.

February 8, 2011

For most of these posts I have been focusing on the PA Quilt (and Rug) Trails. It's an exciting project for Community Partnerships RC&D. Fortunately for us there were many trails before us and from those trails we owe much gratitude. We have learned from our fore-quilt trailers and put much of this knowledge to use in designing and implementing the Pa Quilt (and Rug)Trails.

One Trail is the Clinton County Bicentennial Barn Quit Trail in northeast Ohio. In conjunction with the 2010 county centennial celebration, 54 quilt squares were created and installed throughout the county. Each quilt square is unique to its environment and speaks about the property and property owners, community struggles and joys. One such example is Bob and Jacque Kirk's Federal-style farmhouse which boasts the Star and Cross pattern signifying the Kirk family's strong faith in Jesus Christ and his teachings.