A Nova Scotian rug-hooking artist who spent more than three decades building a national following is being recognized with one of Canada’s highest civilian honours.
Deanne Fitzpatrick will receive the Order of Canada on Dec. 11 for her role in promoting rug hooking as an art form across the country. What started as a hobby in her early 20s has grown into a career that includes a studio, online teaching, books and a global following.
Fitzpatrick first learned to hook rugs when she was 24 and expecting her first child. She says she wanted a handmade rug for her farmhouse and joined her sisters for a weekend workshop.
“As soon as I hooked rugs, I knew it was something I was interested in,” she said. “It felt natural to me.”
From those early projects, she built a small business selling supplies. Over time, that developed into a full studio in Amherst, N.S., where she teaches in person and online. Her weekly livestreams, monthly workshops and beginner sessions have reached people across Canada, the United States and as far away as Belgium, New Zealand and Australia.
Fitzpatrick has written 10 books on rug hooking and creativity. Her latest book focuses on landscapes and colour.
She gets inspiration from her relationship with the land around her home where she’s lived for more than 30 years.
She says the craft has always offered something deeper than just a finished piece of art.
“Rug hooking is meditative,” she said. “You sit with yourself, and it gives you time to think. And you can express so much without saying a word.”
Fitzpatrick says receiving the Order of Canada feels both meaningful and unexpected. She learned she was nominated by a woman who began hooking rugs during the pandemic through one of her Thursday online sessions.
“It was humbling,” she said. “So many people do good work and never get recognized, so to be acknowledged like this is really lovely.”
Fitzpatrick’s inspiration often comes from daily walks near her home, the trees and seed pods she notices through the seasons, and memories of her childhood in Newfoundland. She says small details often shape the stories behind her rugs.
“Little things become part of the story,” she said. “I’m always looking at the sky, the trees, the land.”
While rug hooking has deep roots in Maritime history, Fitzpatrick says younger people are embracing it, too, including studio employee Ceilidh Bennett.
“It’s really cool, something I can put on my wall,” Bennett said. “It’s one of the easier crafts. Anyone can do it.”
Fitzpatrick hopes the national recognition will help even more people discover the comfort and creativity she found more than 30 years ago.
“You never know what you’re learning when you learn how to hook rugs,” she said. “You just never know where it’s going to take you.”
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