Traditional Arts Apprenticeship
2025 - 2026 Grant
From July 2025 through June 2026, Indigo Hookery is participating in a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship made possible through a grant from the Iowa Arts Council.
This apprenticeship supports the continuation and evolution of traditional art forms through intensive, hands-on mentorship. For us, it is an opportunity to deepen our rug hooking practice, explore new creative directions, and share the process openly with our community.
Our Apprenticeship Team
Tamara Pavich, Indigo Hookery
​Fiber artist, writer, and teacher specializing in design-driven rug hooking. Tamara’s work emphasizes personal voice, curiosity, and intentional rule-breaking in traditional forms.
Suzanne Cantrell
An intermediate rug hooker focused on strengthening design skills, expanding thematic work, and developing a more personal visual language.
Becky Groff
​With permission from the Iowa Arts Council, Becky is participating fully alongside the mentor and apprentice, though grant funds are not used for her participation. Her involvement has enriched the collaborative learning experience for all three artists.
How We Are
Working and What We Are Exploring
This apprenticeship does not follow a rigid curriculum. Instead, it is shaped by shared curiosity, conversation, and the natural unfolding of ideas through making.
We meet regularly, both in person and by Zoom, to share works in progress, talk through design decisions and challenges, offer critique and encouragement, and plan upcoming projects together. Our first in-person session took place in September, when we drew and hooked our initial wildlife pieces. Since then, the work has continued to evolve through hands-on sessions and ongoing virtual conversations.
Our areas of exploration shift and expand over time, but current and planned themes include wildlife and nature studies, abstract design work, portrait studies, rugs inspired by poetry and verse, and moths and butterflies, sometimes explored through stained-glass–like effects. We are also engaging with the concept of kintsugi, using visual metaphor to explore repair, resilience, and the beauty found in imperfection.
Each artist approaches these themes in their own way, resulting in work that is distinct, personal, and deeply informed by shared dialogue. This collaborative process has become one of the most valuable aspects of the apprenticeship.