My Interview with a Graduate Student from the Bard Graduate Center, NY.

April 10, 2014

About 2 years ago, I was contacted by a lovely lady who was pursuing a graduate degree from the Bard Graduate Center in New York. She asked to interview me as part of her study on historical crafts, and I happily agreed. That interview with some wonderful photos is now available to the public the Bard Center website, http://www.bgccraftartdesign.org/items/show/3 and now on their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/BardGradCenter

Here's are a few photos and the beginning of the story...

Conducted by Mei-Ling Israel on November 6, 2011 at Green Mountain Hooked Rugs, Montpelier, Vermont

       

 Stephanie Allen-Krauss, 2011. Photo: Mei-Ling Israel.

 

Stephanie Allen-Krauss, b. 1954, is a Montpelier, Vermont-based fourth-generation rug hooker, business owner and educator. Her great-grandmother, Philena Moxley, owned a store, PC Moxley Dry Goods, where she sold embroidery and self-designed rug patterns in the second half of the nineteenth century. Her mother, Anne Ashworth, was a nationally-recognized rug hooking teacher who also ran a repair and custom dye-business and was a key member in the formation of national rug hooking organizations. Allen-Krauss learned rug hooking as a child from her mother. She holds two bachelor’s degrees, one in elementary education and one in special education. In 2010, she received the Vermont Governor’s Heritage Award for Outstanding Traditional Artist.
In the interview, Stephanie Allen-Krauss traces her family’s history with rug hooking and describes the process whereby she started to make rugs. As an educator, she is especially adept at describing the craft form, its technicalities and materials, and its community of practitioners. The second part of the interview was a tour of her business and adjoining home, including the primary place where she works on rugs. This interview, illustrated with many rugs of her own making, highlights the deeply personal nature of her craft.