Creative Growth Art Center
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Viewing Rooms
  • Creative Growth
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Menu

Rug Program

Past viewing_room
July 7, 2020


  • As the oldest textile program at Creative Growth, rug making was introduced through a visiting artist workshop in 1987, and quickly established itself as a favorite among the artists. Studio Instructor Tara Tucker inherited the program in 2003 and expanded its accessibility through the addition of tabletop frames and one-handed tools. The Rug Program has become a vital part of the Creative Growth community, with over 900 rugs produced since its inception. Creative Growth rugs have been exhibited at Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Moss Design gallery, and featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and Paper magazine.

  • Artists fabricate rugs based on their own designs using a two-handed speed-tufting tool to punch yarn through stretched canvases. Larger projects require a cooperative of artists to work together on an individual artist’s design. Artists take turns or work side-by-side to complete sections of rugs that can be made up to 8 feet in length.

     

    "The Rug Program is very unique. We have been creating artist-made and designed rugs since the mid 1980s, and they always have that certain ‘Creative Growth’ look. I have seen other artists create wonderful rugs, but our artists always push the boundaries through their designs and application of the material. I think this program more than any other is all about partnership. We all help each other make these amazing new creations out of their art, by thinking about them as design with a function."

    Tara Tucker, Studio Instructor

  • Three long rows of colorful Creative Growth rugs on a wall at the Moss Design gallery. A row of orange chaise lounges are in front of the wall, and partial exhibition text is visible reading; “Hooked Up, curated by Kim Haistreiter.” (View more details about this item in a popup).
    A hooked rug featuring a closed fist with six fingers and a dark green border. The hand is hooked with several different shades of brown and each visible fingertip has a white fingernail. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    A large hooked rug featuring two nude women, one with auburn hair and hands on hips and the other, taller, with brown hair and arms overhead. Surrounding the figures are multiple pairs of colorful underwear and bras, floating in space. The rug has a cream background and maroon and blue border. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Artist David Albertsen sits in a gray sweatshirt with his back to the camera working on a large horizontal rug depicted the Queen with the Queen’s Guard in bearshin hats and red coats. The rug is partially finished and the tracing of the original design is visible. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Artist Gerone Spruill sits in a black t-shirt and baseball cap hooking a large horizontal rug. The rug is partially completed and features a profile view of a white dog with a flat top and tidy brown spots. The dog stands on a bright orange floor. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    An artist sits with their back to the camera working on a large rug featuring the head of a green bird with yellow eyes and a blue beak. To the right of that rug a very large, partially completed rug is visible with the outlines of a nude woman surrounded by floating pairs of underwear. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Artists Larry Randolph (in a black t-shirt with his back to the camera) and Ray Vickers (in plaid, smiling with a thumbs up at the camera) sit side-by-side working on hooked rugs. Larry works on a design by John Mullins of a blue phonograph on a peach background. Ray works on a design by D'Lisa Fort of a erupting volcano on a black background. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Artist William Tyler sits in a blue shirt and glasses with his back to the camera, tufting a colorful rug designed by Merritt Wallace. The rug is round and features a tangle of colorful snake-like animals on a light green background. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    Artist Rickie Algarva sits in a down jacket, her glasses and hearing aid are visible. She is tufting the black outline on plain canvas of a Merritt Wallace design, featuring a tangle of snake-like animals. (View more details about this item in a popup).
    A close up of the edge of a rug in the middle of being bound. Peach yarn is being sewn around the raw canvas. (View more details about this item in a popup).

    Creative Growth rugs in ‘Hooked Up,’ an exhibition at the Moss Design gallery, curated by Kim Haistreiter, 2005.

  • AVAILABLE RUGS

    • Latefa Noorzai Untitled, 2019 Hooked rug 30.5x39 inches
      Latefa Noorzai
      Untitled, 2019
      Hooked rug
      30.5x39 inches
    • William Tyler Vintage Design The Imposter Chicken Went Swimming in the Birdbath, 2020 Hooked rug 33x38 inches
      William Tyler
      Vintage Design
      The Imposter Chicken Went Swimming in the Birdbath, 2020
      Hooked rug
      33x38 inches
    • Lulu Sotelo Latina Superwoman, 2018 Hooked rug 27x40 inches
      Lulu Sotelo
      Latina Superwoman, 2018
      Hooked rug
      27x40 inches
    • D'Lisa Fort Triple Moon, 2019 Hooked rug 26x36 inches
      D'Lisa Fort
      Triple Moon, 2019
      Hooked rug
      26x36 inches
    • Regina Broussard Vintage Design Tea Party #3, 2020 Hooked rug 28x36 inches
      Regina Broussard
      Vintage Design
      Tea Party #3, 2020
      Hooked rug
      28x36 inches
    • Susan Janow Off the Grid, 2019 Hooked rug 14x30.5 inches
      Susan Janow
      Off the Grid, 2019
      Hooked rug
      14x30.5 inches
    Close
  • John Martin

    Hammer Head #1, 2019
    Hooked rug
    27x43 inches
    $650.00
    SOLD
    • Natascha Haehlen Abstract Watercolor, 2020 Hooked rug 27x35 inches
      Natascha Haehlen
      Abstract Watercolor, 2020
      Hooked rug
      27x35 inches
    • William Scott Vintage Design Afro Woman #2, 2019 Hooked Rug 30x43 inches
      William Scott
      Vintage Design
      Afro Woman #2, 2019
      Hooked Rug
      30x43 inches
    • Edwin Zalenski Transamerica Building, 2019 Hooked rug 27x28 inches
      Edwin Zalenski
      Transamerica Building, 2019
      Hooked rug
      27x28 inches
    • Lulu Sotelo Lady with a Rug on Her Head, 2018 Hooked rug 24.5x44 inches
      Lulu Sotelo
      Lady with a Rug on Her Head, 2018
      Hooked rug
      24.5x44 inches
    • Vera Hollins Vintage Design You Can't Hide from Me Because My Eyes are on You #2, 2020 Hooked rug 27.5x34 inches
      Vera Hollins
      Vintage Design
      You Can't Hide from Me Because My Eyes are on You #2, 2020
      Hooked rug
      27.5x34 inches
    • Eleanor Chackee Trigger Fish, 2019 Hooked rug 17x25.5 inches
      Eleanor Chackee
      Trigger Fish, 2019
      Hooked rug
      17x25.5 inches
    Close




  • RUG ARCHIVE

    • Rickie Algarva

      Rickie Algarva

    • Donald Paterson

      Donald Paterson

    • Gerone Spruill

      Gerone Spruill

    • John Martin

      John Martin

    • Camille Holvoet

      Camille Holvoet

    • Luis Estape

      Luis Estape

    • Donald Paterson

      Donald Paterson

    • William Tyler

      William Tyler

    • Luis Estape

      Luis Estape

    • Regina Broussard

      Regina Broussard

    • Regina Broussard

      Regina Broussard

    • William Tyler

      William Tyler

    Close
  •  

     

    INTERVIEW WITH TARA TUCKER

  • You've been the Rug Program facilitator since 2003, what's it like to see artists transform their work into a rug? 

    I get really excited to see our artists take an original artwork and turn it into a rug design. Sometimes they draw something specifically for their rug, other times we use older artwork: ceramic sculpture, paintings, wood pieces, drawings, anything! The rug often becomes a more graphic and simplified version of the original artwork. The artists also love that they can touch it, sit on it, lay on it, and really appreciate their art in a whole new sensory way.

     

    How do you see the Rug Program as similar or unique to the rest of the Studio? 

    The Rug Program is co-mingled with Printmaking because we share the same space in the Studio. I often think that printmaking and rug making are so similar: each type of art is very process-oriented and has a foot in craft. They both use very specific tools and are creating an image from another image. We can make editions, or if you're just going for it with monotypes in printmaking, you can do the same thing with a rug. The Rug Program is very unique, not just for Creative Growth, but for the world. We have been making artist-made and designed rugs since the mid 1980s and they always have that certain 'Creative Growth' look. I have seen other artists create wonderful rugs, but our artists always push the boundaries through their designs and application of the material.  

     

    What's your daily routine like? 

    Before we all were stuck at home, I worked at the Studio three days a week. Two of those days are specifically for my rug sessions. I don't really teach anyone anything, except for brand new rug artists on how to use the tools. This makes it my job to be setting up the tools, transferring designs to backing cloth, and assisting the artists with finding just the correct yarn for their projects. It's like a quilting bee during program. We all sit around chatting and working on the rugs. When I'm not assisting someone with getting yarn or fixing a tool, I'm putting a beautiful edge on the finished rugs, or giving it a label. At the end of the day, I pack each rug project up and put it all away for the next time. 

     

    What is the process like from beginning to end? 

    The process of rug making simplified is this:

    1. Find a design.

    2. Transfer it to the backing material with Sharpie and a projector.

    3. Gather up all of your yarn for the project.

    4. Stretch backing cloth onto the frame.

    5. Punch yarn into backing cloth.

    6. Fix the back of the finished rug with an acrylic matte fluid, so the yarn won't pull out.

    7. Edge bind and label the rug. 

     

    How does the rug cooperative function?  

    We still use the Rug Crafter's Speed Tufting tool and the larger frames for the cooperative rug projects. It's a two handed tool that is faster to use but requires more strength. The artists making those rugs work on designs from anywhere within the Studio, often from alumni. Several artists will work on all of those rugs. Usually 2-3 at a time. 

     

    Any particular artists who love rug making?
    Rickie Algarva has been making rugs for about 25 years. Maybe more. She, Dinah Shapiro, and Dan Hamilton were in the Rug Program before I started working at Creative Growth 18 years ago. Those three artists taught me how to use the Rug Crafter's Speed Tufting tool. Our rug artists have amazing skill and tend to stick with it for years and years. Dinah Shapiro has told me more than once that the process of using the tools is meditative and helps her focus.


Creative Growth is a nonprofit organization that serves artists with disabilities by providing a professional studio environment for artistic development, gallery exhibition, and representation.

 

Founded in 1974, Creative Growth is the oldest art center and exhibition space for adults with disabilities in the United States. Currently, there are over 150 artists working in our studio in a variety of media including painting, drawing, textiles, woodwork, ceramics, rugs, printmaking, and video production. Artwork fostered in this unique environment has been acquired by prominent institutions worldwide, including the MoMA, The Centre Pompidou, SFMOMA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The American Folk Art museum, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Collection de L’art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

If the first university developed from a gathering of people exchanging ideas, then Creative Growth is a kind of university. Here for almost 50 years, artists with disabilities have gathered to communicate, express themselves, draw, paint, sculpt, and seek innovative ways towards creative self-realization and identity.                     

--Tom di Maria Director, Creative Growth Art Center

 

The work produced by Creative Growth’s artists represents everything I could hope for in art: it is simultaneously joyful, sincere, obsessive and puzzling, and forcefully reminds me of why I remain committed to the potential of art to illuminate our lives.                                               

--Matthew Higgs Director and Chief Curator, White Columns, New York

Creative Growth is a nonprofit organization that serves artists with disabilities by providing a professional studio environment for artistic development, gallery exhibition, and representation.

 

Founded in 1974, Creative Growth is the oldest art center and exhibition space for adults with disabilities in the United States. Currently, there are over 150 artists working in our studio in a variety of media including painting, drawing, textiles, woodwork, ceramics, rugs, printmaking, and video production. Artwork fostered in this unique environment has been acquired by prominent institutions worldwide, including the MoMA, The Centre Pompidou, SFMOMA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The American Folk Art museum, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Collection de L’art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland.

 


If the first university developed from a gathering of people exchanging ideas, then Creative Growth is a kind of university. Here for almost 40 years, artists with disabilities have gathered to communicate, express themselves, draw, paint, sculpt, and seek innovative ways towards creative self-realization and identity.                     

--Tom di Maria Director, Creative Growth Art Center

 

The work produced by Creative Growth’s artists represents everything I could hope for in art: it is simultaneously joyful, sincere, obsessive and puzzling, and forcefully reminds me of why I remain committed to the potential of art to illuminate our lives.                                               

 


Creative Growth Art Center | 355 24th st Oakland, CA | Contact gallery@creativegrowth.org with any questions

Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Manage cookies
Creative Growth Art Center | Contact gallery@creativegrowth.org with any questions
Online Viewing Rooms by Artlogic

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences