05/24/2022
Welcome to Jules Ann Smith Designs! I’m Jules and I live on twenty-seven acres in the woods near Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania. My rug hooked mats are heavily influenced by the surrounding woodlands, farms, wildlife and natural elements that surround my home. I was brought up in a family of makers who encouraged me to express myself artistically. My father was a custom cabinetry and furniture maker, my mother could draw anything, painted, and was an avid sewer. Both of my grandmothers were makers of quilts, braided rugs, crocheted blankets and tatted lace.
I attended Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA majoring in both theater and English. As an undergraduate I participated both on and off stage in my school’s theatrical productions. I worked behind the scenes in the theater’s costume and set design shops, and honed my skills while sewing costumes and building sets. I followed up my undergraduate studies by attending Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York where I earned a Master’s degree in business, specializing in arts management.
I was nurtured creatively by my family, and developed an early appreciation for creating. My childhood experience with quilting brought me to experiment with both picture quilts and fabric collages. In my early years after college I developed patterns for handmade purses and wallets to sell at local craft fairs. At twenty-three I became a floral designer, and spent fifteen years specializing in wedding decor and florals, which allowed me to combine my love of natural elements with my affinity for decor and textiles.
The textile art I create is my expression of a visceral and emotional response to the natural beauty of my surroundings, whether it’s my neighbor’s red barn, a flower growing in my gardens, or the geese flying over my head. I try to represent the beauty that surrounds me on a daily basis by appreciating simple form and structure.
For almost ten years I have found my creative outlet in rug hooking. I use natural fibers like wool, silk and linen to produce rugs (or mats) that can be displayed as wall art or floor coverings. I enjoy combining the traditional rug hooking craft with contemporary designs and techniques. My hooked mats are my way of expressing the beauty I find in the ordinary, to take something as basic as a floor mat and elevate it to a piece of gallery art demonstrates the creativity inherent in this traditional folk art.
