Over the last thirty years, Joan Gates has made over three hundred hooked rugs. She designs each one, dyes the yarn, punch hooks the patterns, shears the finished rugs, and hems them by hand.
She has taken on numerous commissions for private clients as well as for interior designers including Diana Hambleton, David Anthony Easton, and Albert Hadley. Her work has been shown at the Wingspread Gallery in Northeast Harbor, ME; Textile Arts International, Inc., Minneapolis MN; the Stevens and Conron Gallery in Lenox, MA; the Back Allie Art Gallery in Sarasota FL; the Turtle Gallery in Deer Isle, ME; and Rita Redfield Artisans Gallery in Mt. Desert, ME.
Inspiration surrounds Gates. She has been drawn to geometric and architectural patterns, to floral and fruit arrangements to heraldic symbolism, and to dignified as well as fantastic wild animals. She cannot predict the next phase.
The “AH-HA” moments supply the magical ingredients.