FABRICATING A LIFE
Mary Hays
1945 – 2025
Two things were consistent throughout Mary’s life: a love of nature and working with fabric. In the 1970s, Mary took up rug braiding, a traditional early American craft. She would take her beloved 1969 Firebird from her home in New Jersey and drive to Manhattan’s Garment District. By the time she left, there was barely enough room for her to drive as it was full of wool remnants for her rugs. The rugs, after nearly fifty years of use on floors, are not in condition for showing, but are still beautiful.
In the 1990s, Mary became intrigued with a material called Sculpey, a polymer clay that can be modeled and put into a conventional oven to harden, removing the necessity of a high temperature kiln for finishing. She began to make holiday Santas using sculpey to model the unique faces and hands and allowing her to continue her work with fabrics to make the costumes. Mary gave many of these Santas to friends and families as holiday gifts. The four on display are the ones that Mike insisted she keep as he loved them.
In 2011, at a memorial service for a friend, Mary saw a collection of hooked rugs that her friend had made. It was an instantaneous connection. Her love of creativity and her love of fabric came together and she found her medium for artistic expression. As always, Mary worked hard to become the best “hooker” she could be. With the help and encouragement of friends in the hooking community, she began to enter her rugs for judging. In 2016, her rug, “Cobble Bridge” was judged the best landscape rug of the year in Rug Hooking Magazine’s “Celebration” issue. Mary continued to improve her skills taking on more and more ambitious designs. In 2022, the North American Hooked Rug Museum staged a year long exhibit of her work and Mary was honored as the International Rug Hooker of the Year by the museum. Mary was working on another hooked rug when she died. It was finished by her friend Jan Reed and presented to the Cap-Acadie, New Brunswick Barachois Historical Church for their collection of over three hundred hooked rug cushions in their concert Hall. Mary was a joyful person and she loved her life. I hope you enjoy seeing the results of that love.
Mary’s work will be on display through November.
A reception will be held Tuesday, August 19th from 5:30 – 7PM.