Show & Tell / Lorayne Charenko

In Memory of Lorayne Charenko      


Lorayne Charenko ( 1924 - 2021) with her owl rug at a guild hook-in.


The guild was saddened to learn of the recent loss of Lorayne Charenko, one of our longtime members. Lorayne was a guild member for over 40 years and a very talented rug hooker. She served as president from 1993 to 1995 and up until recent years remained very actively involved with all guild activities. Lorayne always had a smile for everyone and loved to see what members were working on, no matter if you were just beginning or an old hand. No one could describe her better than Sally Perodeau, her longtime friend, who began hooking the same year as Lorayne: “Always elegantly dressed and gracious, she was friendly with everyone and always gave generously of her time to helping Guild members, offering advice on hooking techniques and encouraging others to share their talents.”

 

Lorayne giving Réjean some help with his rug.


From left to right: Ti, Lorayne and Dawna having fun.


3 Birthday Girls. From left to right: Dawna, Linda and Lorayne.


Lorayne would have celebrated her 97th birthday this spring. She leaves to mourn her husband of 70 years and her 3 children and their families.

BHCG has lost a lovely and gracious lady and we will miss Lorayne who will always hold a special place in many of our members’ memories.

You can see our tribute to Lorayne as one of our past presidents, along with some of her beautiful rugs, on the BHCG website: Virtual Gallery/ Gallery 3

Lorayne’s obituary can be viewed at:

Alfreda Lorayne Froude Charenko | Obituary | Montreal Gazette (remembering.ca)


Dawna Matthew
President


 

Show & Tell : Lorayne Charenko   

This is a compilation of rugs hooked by Lorayne Charenko and featured in our Gallery Website Page between 2008 and 2020, including the ones of the Virtual Gallery / Gallery 3: our tribute to Lorayne as one of our past presidents.

Show & Tell / June 2008

Lorayne Charenko. Fisherman.



Fisherman

This is a rug I made with Lois J. Morris in one of her portrait workshops. I learned a lot about shadows and portraits and I was very excited. After this course, I was looking at people differently, observing shadows skins tones, people’s noses and other features. I was looking for an inspiration for my portrait and I found it in a National Geographic Magazine. I saw a male portrait and I decided to do one fisherman smoking a pipe. So, this is an adaptation from a picture in an old National Geographic Magazine. I used a number 3 and 4 cut. I over dyed old pieces and material reclaim and I dyed the background myself.



Show & Tell / February 2010


Lorayne Charenko
Lorayne Charenko. Prairie Vista. 


Prairie Vista
Original

For this pictorial, I used a combination of wools. For example, the wall is hooked with recycled wool, which I over-dyed and cut with scissors, while the sky is new wool, cut in no. 2. I used no. 3 cut wools for the rest of the picture, which measures 26 cm x 36 cm.



Show & Tell : July - September 2012


Lorayne Charenko. Tuscan Landscape. Adapted.

Tuscan Landscape

This rug is an adaptation of a picture I had seen and liked. I used both new and recycled materials. I overdyed some pieces and cut out by hand strings of colour from plaid material. New materials were cut by machine. I really enjoyed this project with its many challenges.




Show & Tell : January - March 2016


Lorayne Charenko
Polar Boys By Lorayne Charenko (First hooked piece).


Lorayne Charenko


Polar Boys

These two eskimo pieces are not rugs but framed hooked pictures. The first, bellow, one of a set of Polar Boys, represents two eskimos ice fishing. This, my first hooked piece, is the result of a carving course I took with Lois J. Morris. The twin of this set, a black eskimo, I carved entirely on my own. To achieve a silhouette look, I carved it low and brushed, and brushed again, until I got the aspect I was seeking. From those two pieces I was "hooked" and went on to do other carved pieces.



Show & Tell : Christmas / December 2016



Cheticamp Style Picture Frame

This frame was a kit from Stella Bourgeois. Stella was a member of our group for a short while and gave this as a course on Cheticamp type hooking. The kit contained the pattern, very fine yarn and a hook made by Stella. The result - the pretty picture frame. Some years later Jeanne Osler was travelling in Nova Scotia and stopped at the museum in Cheticamp. She mentioned Stella having taught this course and they immediately took her upstairs and gave her a tour of the museum and had her hook a few stitches in a rug they were making! She was most impressed.



Show & Tell : January - March 2017


Lorayne Charenko
Lorayne Charenko. Flying Free.



Flying Free

At a course given by Lois J. Morris we were given patterns of shapes and from these shapes we were to design a hooking piece. The shape I chose seemed to look like a bird. I started hooking one bird and gradually Flying Free came alive. The background was done in reverse hooking and I think it shows off the birds. I did my own dyeing. I really enjoyed this course.


Show & Tell : Orientals / September 2020



Lorayne Charenko. Oriental Rug.


Oriental Rug

This rug is about 30 years old and I started it during a course on Oriental Rugs that was offered at BHCG. It is quite large, about 40- to 45-inch diameter. The pattern I used for my rug is taken from part of a much larger pattern I saw in a picture. I drew the design on linen and hooked it with #2 cut wool. I dyed all the wool and the colour scheme is my own. It is important to note that it is completely hooked in parallel rows, starting at one side and working straight across the linen backing to the opposite side (no “higgledy-piggledy”). My daughter has the rug in her home.




Show & Tell : Landscapes #2 / October 2020


Lorayne Charenko. Landscape, a Rittermere pattern.


Lorayne Charenko
Landscape
Rittermere stained glass pattern
Prior to 1987
14-inch diameter


I hooked this small round piece many years ago. Using a stained-glass pattern for a hooked rug project is fun, as the colours are clearly outlined. The challenge was to capture the effect of light passing through the coloured glass onto the hooked roundel. I am happy with the reflections I created. I also like the perspective of seeing the water surface far down, behind the cliff and tree in the foreground. It was shown in the Lakeshore Hooking Craft Guild (now BHCG) section at the 1987 Ontario Hooking Craft Guild Show (See photo album presented in BHCG 45th anniversary).



Show & Tell : Animation Month / October 2020

Lorayne Charenko. Lotus Flower. A pattern by Paulina Tischer .


Lotus Flower
Shown in a 2004 Exhibition
16 x 19 inches
Pattern found in the book “Egyptian Designs in Modern Stitchery” by Pauline Tischer

I adapted this Egyptian lotus flower rug from a cross-stitch pattern book. I dyed some of the wool and also used some repurposed wool. I love this symmetric flower with a semi-circular composition. This piece hangs in my home.



Virtual Gallery

BHCG Virtual Celebration /Gallery 3
November 2020






Lorayne Charenko. Victorian Rose.



Victorian Rose
Year hooked: 1980’s
Size wool cut: #2

Kay Cousineau and I each did this rose while taking a course with Joan Boyle to learn shading and bevelling or carving techniques. I love doing this carving technique.




Lorayne Charenko. Butterflies.



Butterflies
20 inches x 24 inches
Designer unknown

I like how the colourful butterflies really feel like they are in motion and stand out against the soft pale grasses in the background. It was shown in the Guild’s 1993 Winter Carnival Exhibition.


***



Lorayne Charenko, Critters, Designed by Joan Boyle.


Critters
24 ½ x 13 ½ inches
Designed by Joan Boyle

The pattern and materials for this rug came in a kit. The techniques I used include fine shading and fancy stitches. It was exhibited in the Guild’s 15th year anniversary show in March 1990.


***




Lorayne Charenko. Winter



Winter
19 x 26 inches
Designed by unknown artist

I enlarged a Christmas card, and drew this pattern onto linen. I hooked it with newly dyed wool and over-dyed repurposed wool. I think I hooked it in the early 2000’s.





Keywords: In Memoriam



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