The Rug Hooking Project
on display during December 2005
at Las Manitas Avenue Cafe, 211 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78701
In the small village of Agustin Gonzales, 21 women spend what little free time they have hooking rugs. You will find them working late at night by kitchen tables after children are asleep or perhaps you will see them sitting under a tree in the hillside tending the cows and working on their rugs. Their subject matter is the life around them, mountains, cactus, cows, horses, burros, flowers, a small house, a church, ducks, rabbits, chickens, roosters or fish. Each art piece is entirely unique as is the skill of rug hooking in Mexico.
Five years ago Mary Kay, a Canadian, became involved in the volunteer organization "Mujeres en Cambio" (Women in Change) while visiting in San Miguel de Allende. This organization is dedicated to the empowerment of women. Their first project began in 1994 providing scholarships to girls who could not afford to continue their education past the 6th grade. Secondary education is not free in Mexico. While visiting the young girls' school, she noticed the elegant crocheting and embroidery of the mothers. Mary Kay had been hooking rugs for many years and thought that these women had the ability to learn this craft unique to Mexico. She took on the task of teaching them. For the next 3 years she visited every winter and taught the women how to hook rugs.
The women began to design and make all their own rugs but one piece of the puzzle was still missing: marketing. In the summer of 2000 Charlotte Bell and Susan Vigliano began bringing the rugs to the United States. Once again, La Peña is showcasing the hooked rugs of these women at Las Manitas Avenue Café where they may be seen and purchased.