Doris Emily Eaton, age 91, passed away September 29th. She was known all over the world, respected, loved and admired for her contribution to rug hooking. She was an icon who established our Nova Scotia Rug Hooking Guild that just celebrated its 40th year.
It wasn’t long after I started rug hooking in 1999 that I heard her name for the first time. In these parts she was the reigning queen. The awe and respect for her work was held in great esteem and the woman behind the talent was the epitome of eloquence and grace. She was humble and soft spoken but when she spoke she held our attention as she shared her knowledge and her talent. She was hooking royalty and her contribution and enthusiasm for this fiber art left us in awe and wanting to push the envelope on our own talents.
We were delighted to receive an invitation to visit her studio in Petite Revere. Her lovely home was enchanting, the hostess charming. She showed us her studio and I drank in her amazing rugs, my eyes as wide as a child in a candy store. Each rug had a story that kept my husband and I captivated. I never realized how diverse this fiber art could be, as we were granted a peek into rug hooking creativity and genius. I was fairly new as a rug hooker and an even newer shop owner, and was mesmerized by her manipulation of colour and design. I stood in awe of the incredibly talented woman who opened my eyes to possibilities I never knew existed.
We had coffee and sweets and listened to her talk of her creative journey, totally captivated by her experiences and adventures in the world of wool. Doris was an interesting person as well as a talented artist. She saw things with a broader scope and she was also interested in knowing who you were, in your ideas and dreams. She said she deplored gossip and naysaying. She made it clear to her hooking group that there would be none of that; the experience was all about the inspiration, the process and the women who brought each rug to life.
I’m a bit quirky and when our conversation came around to dead bodies, not sure how it got brought up but don’t all chats end up with biological functions? Intrigued, she said she had something to show me, a collection of the tiniest skeletons of mice and small creatures found here and there and even in the walls of her house when renovating. I felt privileged to be shown the tiny bleached bones of the most delicate creatures, stored in little matchboxes, saved and treasured. I thought she was amazing, perhaps even a kindred spirit. There was magnificence in those tiny skeletons and I marveled at their delicacy. Her talent and personality aside, I knew how special she really was to see beauty in aspects of nature that most would shun.
Later, I was invited to one of her hook-ins. Talented women gathered, many who have since passed, who shared their knowledge and stories and I basked in their presence. One woman did a demonstration on dyeing a six value swatch that only took a minute. You make up the dye formula and add it to a simmering pot with vinegar. Then you drop in the first premeasured piece of wool and stir quickly nonstop while counting to ten, not too fast, not too slow. Then add the second piece, stirring like mad and counting to ten, then the third and so on. In the end all of the dye was absorbed and there were six pieces of wool in the water all in perfect graduated colour. The stirring forced the dye into the wool so there wasn’t any white core. For those that like instant gratification it’s a perfect way to achieve a result.
I called Doris once for advice. Someone had bought one of my patterns, copied it and then returned it and I hadn’t noticed it was ruined until I took it out of the bag. Green marker was smeared all over it as several people made copies when it was passed around their group. I was heartbroken and sought advice from someone that knew this industry well. She told me tales of how her work had been copied without permission over the years and how she had chosen not to cause waves but regretted it. She said I needed to defend my property, and with Doris’s wise words I found the strength to phone the woman and asked that she pay me for the pattern that was now unsaleable. She apologized and sent her husband to the studio with the payment. It was very hard for me to do and against my grain but I felt proud that I’d dealt with it instead of turning it inside and feeling used. I told the woman that if she covered the loss I would forget it ever happened and she would be welcome in my studio anytime and she continued to join our hook-ins and buy her wool at the studio.
Over the years Doris popped in and out of my radar. She would visit the studio from time to time and was always gracious and complementary for the work I was doing. Her support meant so much to me and when she left I walked on air for the rest of the day. When she published her book I was thrilled to have her sign it and I am going to bring it home and peruse it again, to remember this great woman we all had a privilege to know, if not personally, through her body of work immortalized in her wonderful book, A Lifetime of Rug Hooking.
When The Main Street Hookers, the group that meets at my studio put on a show called Art Under Foot, I asked if she would say a few words at the opening and she was, of course, delightful. She told me that her first gallery showing was named Art Under Foot and brought the brochure to show me. Two great minds I said and we both laughed. She also told me that of all the rug hooking shows she’s attended she enjoyed ours the best, the way the rugs were professionally displayed, coordinated and labeled, the venue was intimate with the feel of class and elegance. I was deeply touched and proud.
I didn’t get to see her as much as I would have liked so every time we met was special. There was something about Doris that drew you in and you basked in her glow. They broke the mold with her and she could have walked around with an ego the size of Texas but she was humble and gracious to a fault.
How many of us have songs written about our lives and talent? In September 2011, Alex Hickey was invited to sing at the opening of a hooked-rug show in honour of Doris. She wrote this song as a tribute to Ms. Eaton and her wonderful book, A Lifetime of Rug-Hooking. I couldn’t find a link to add but the album is called Blackbirds, released in September 18, 2012.
Doris’s Song
To be all you can in your time and your place
Is to give all you have of your knowledge and grace
And each one you guide as they go on their way
Will carry you forward into a new day
Each loop and each line has a story to tell
Of a labour of love and a life lived well
We might see ocean or seaweed or shell
But there’s so much more to this story
Of a woman who knew that her art was her life
And carved out the time as a mother and wife
Each Wednesday she took to do what her muse asked
And brought forth the visions with which she’d be tasked
When she turned to teach every student inspired
Every spark coaxed into bright fire
A whole group of artists with something to say
With heart and with purpose each in her own way
If I had three lifetimes
I’d give them to you
‘Cause I want to see all the work you would do
And you’d want to see how the colours would glow
If every idea had time to grow
Her loved ones, friends and the rug hooking community have all experienced a terrible loss in her passing, but she will certainly be canonized in our thoughts forever. Rest in peace kind and gentle soul, you will be missed. Doris Eaton 1928 - 2019
It wasn’t long after I started rug hooking in 1999 that I heard her name for the first time. In these parts she was the reigning queen. The awe and respect for her work was held in great esteem and the woman behind the talent was the epitome of eloquence and grace. She was humble and soft spoken but when she spoke she held our attention as she shared her knowledge and her talent. She was hooking royalty and her contribution and enthusiasm for this fiber art left us in awe and wanting to push the envelope on our own talents.
We were delighted to receive an invitation to visit her studio in Petite Revere. Her lovely home was enchanting, the hostess charming. She showed us her studio and I drank in her amazing rugs, my eyes as wide as a child in a candy store. Each rug had a story that kept my husband and I captivated. I never realized how diverse this fiber art could be, as we were granted a peek into rug hooking creativity and genius. I was fairly new as a rug hooker and an even newer shop owner, and was mesmerized by her manipulation of colour and design. I stood in awe of the incredibly talented woman who opened my eyes to possibilities I never knew existed.
We had coffee and sweets and listened to her talk of her creative journey, totally captivated by her experiences and adventures in the world of wool. Doris was an interesting person as well as a talented artist. She saw things with a broader scope and she was also interested in knowing who you were, in your ideas and dreams. She said she deplored gossip and naysaying. She made it clear to her hooking group that there would be none of that; the experience was all about the inspiration, the process and the women who brought each rug to life.
I’m a bit quirky and when our conversation came around to dead bodies, not sure how it got brought up but don’t all chats end up with biological functions? Intrigued, she said she had something to show me, a collection of the tiniest skeletons of mice and small creatures found here and there and even in the walls of her house when renovating. I felt privileged to be shown the tiny bleached bones of the most delicate creatures, stored in little matchboxes, saved and treasured. I thought she was amazing, perhaps even a kindred spirit. There was magnificence in those tiny skeletons and I marveled at their delicacy. Her talent and personality aside, I knew how special she really was to see beauty in aspects of nature that most would shun.
Later, I was invited to one of her hook-ins. Talented women gathered, many who have since passed, who shared their knowledge and stories and I basked in their presence. One woman did a demonstration on dyeing a six value swatch that only took a minute. You make up the dye formula and add it to a simmering pot with vinegar. Then you drop in the first premeasured piece of wool and stir quickly nonstop while counting to ten, not too fast, not too slow. Then add the second piece, stirring like mad and counting to ten, then the third and so on. In the end all of the dye was absorbed and there were six pieces of wool in the water all in perfect graduated colour. The stirring forced the dye into the wool so there wasn’t any white core. For those that like instant gratification it’s a perfect way to achieve a result.
I called Doris once for advice. Someone had bought one of my patterns, copied it and then returned it and I hadn’t noticed it was ruined until I took it out of the bag. Green marker was smeared all over it as several people made copies when it was passed around their group. I was heartbroken and sought advice from someone that knew this industry well. She told me tales of how her work had been copied without permission over the years and how she had chosen not to cause waves but regretted it. She said I needed to defend my property, and with Doris’s wise words I found the strength to phone the woman and asked that she pay me for the pattern that was now unsaleable. She apologized and sent her husband to the studio with the payment. It was very hard for me to do and against my grain but I felt proud that I’d dealt with it instead of turning it inside and feeling used. I told the woman that if she covered the loss I would forget it ever happened and she would be welcome in my studio anytime and she continued to join our hook-ins and buy her wool at the studio.
Over the years Doris popped in and out of my radar. She would visit the studio from time to time and was always gracious and complementary for the work I was doing. Her support meant so much to me and when she left I walked on air for the rest of the day. When she published her book I was thrilled to have her sign it and I am going to bring it home and peruse it again, to remember this great woman we all had a privilege to know, if not personally, through her body of work immortalized in her wonderful book, A Lifetime of Rug Hooking.
When The Main Street Hookers, the group that meets at my studio put on a show called Art Under Foot, I asked if she would say a few words at the opening and she was, of course, delightful. She told me that her first gallery showing was named Art Under Foot and brought the brochure to show me. Two great minds I said and we both laughed. She also told me that of all the rug hooking shows she’s attended she enjoyed ours the best, the way the rugs were professionally displayed, coordinated and labeled, the venue was intimate with the feel of class and elegance. I was deeply touched and proud.
I didn’t get to see her as much as I would have liked so every time we met was special. There was something about Doris that drew you in and you basked in her glow. They broke the mold with her and she could have walked around with an ego the size of Texas but she was humble and gracious to a fault.
How many of us have songs written about our lives and talent? In September 2011, Alex Hickey was invited to sing at the opening of a hooked-rug show in honour of Doris. She wrote this song as a tribute to Ms. Eaton and her wonderful book, A Lifetime of Rug-Hooking. I couldn’t find a link to add but the album is called Blackbirds, released in September 18, 2012.
Doris’s Song
To be all you can in your time and your place
Is to give all you have of your knowledge and grace
And each one you guide as they go on their way
Will carry you forward into a new day
Each loop and each line has a story to tell
Of a labour of love and a life lived well
We might see ocean or seaweed or shell
But there’s so much more to this story
Of a woman who knew that her art was her life
And carved out the time as a mother and wife
Each Wednesday she took to do what her muse asked
And brought forth the visions with which she’d be tasked
When she turned to teach every student inspired
Every spark coaxed into bright fire
A whole group of artists with something to say
With heart and with purpose each in her own way
If I had three lifetimes
I’d give them to you
‘Cause I want to see all the work you would do
And you’d want to see how the colours would glow
If every idea had time to grow
Her loved ones, friends and the rug hooking community have all experienced a terrible loss in her passing, but she will certainly be canonized in our thoughts forever. Rest in peace kind and gentle soul, you will be missed. Doris Eaton 1928 - 2019
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