The Ledyard Gallery is the Howe Library’s space for exhibiting work by artists of the Upper Valley. In addition to exhibits by individual artists, we host annual group exhibits such as the Elden Murray contest, the Hanover High Art Show, and the 55+ Art Show.
To inquire about showing your work in the Ledyard Gallery, email Sam Milnes at sam.milnes@thehowe.org.
Current Exhibit
DÉJÀ VU
Fiber Art
Adaptations of famous masterpieces
by Gisèle Mac Harg
on display through
Wednesday October 1st, 2025
Exhibit Description:
Rug hooking is a North Eastern American folk art that started in the 1850s.
Early settlers would cut worn clothing into strips and hook them onto a backing to make rugs for warmth and to sell to provide extra income for their families. Over several decades, this craft evolved into a textile art form. Hooked art pieces can now be seen as wall art, artistic mats, even sculpture, offering beautiful images that, with their colors, shapes, and mood, tell stories and evoke memories, just as would a painting or a poem.
discovered the art of rug hooking while visiting the Acadian Chéticamp Museum on the west coast of Cape Breton. A few years later when I had just retired from my teaching career, I crossed paths with a vendor at a local farmer’s market who was hooking a picture while waiting for customers. She offered to let me try a few stitches. And that got me started! | collected woolen materials, acquired a frame, some backing, a hook and a pair of good scissors. My new interest quickly became a passion.
I am mostly self-taught, but I have had the good fortune of meeting other fiber artists equally passionate about this art form. Inspiration and helpful critique nourish our frequent get-togethers. I also draw on my memories of art publications and visits to museums, and make hooking adaptations of famous masterpieces.
For me, each of my pieces is charged with the emotion my stitches found as they took their place and resonated on the canvas. I hope my Déjà Vu hooking will take you on a voyage into the past. I suggest you begin at the prehistoric sections of my show and then follow the centuries in chronological order.
Which piece is your favorite?
Up Next: Painting in the Upper Valley (and Beyond) – acrylics on canvas by Alan Schned
