Bertha Cook
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Bertha Hodges Cook (March 29, 1895 – March 9, 1990) was an American
handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...
artist who was known primarily for her needlework using Colonial knotting and fringing techniques to make
bedspreads Bedding, also known as bedclothes or bed linen, is the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for hygiene, warmth, protection of the mattress, and decorative effect. Bedding is the removable and washable portion of a human sleeping environme ...
. Cook was a recipient of a 1984
National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's ...
awarded by the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States.


Early life

Bertha Hodges was born in the
Blue Ridge Mountain Blue Ridge Mountain, also known as Blue Mountain, is the colloquial name of the westernmost ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The Appalachian Trail traverses the entire length of th ...
community of Sands, North Carolina, near Boone. Her mother was Carrie Hodges, a well-regarded bedspread artist who had learned the skill from her English and Irish female ancestors. Both women used as patterns bedspreads over 100 years old that had been passed down and carefully preserved from one generation to the next. As a child, Cook accompanied her mother to Southern Highland Craft Guild fairs, where she learned about Colonial knotting and fringing techniques to make bedspreads and pillows. Her mother and grandmother served as mentors when Cook began to work on her own.


Career

Cook began making the knotted designs at an early age, but she initially feared learning the complex tying process that resulted in the bedspread's fringe. At age 16, she married Daniel Webster Cook, and they had two children by the time she was 18 years old. Needing money to help support her growing family, and with the strong encouragement of her mother, Cook learned how to tie the fringe so that she could complete each work. She quickly became very proficient as an artisan, and at the height of her career she would make one bedspread a week. The Cooks eventually had six children, and as soon as the children were old enough, she taught them to knot and tie so they could help her with the work. Over the years, Cook made more than a thousand bedspreads, as well as pillows and shams, curtains, table runners and table cloths. The money she made selling her bedspreads and other finished pieces substantially contributed to the family finances, and helped pay for automobiles, a new refrigerator, and a replacement
well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
on the family property. The patterns passed along within her family included Bird in the Tree, Rose of Sharon, Bowknot and Thistle, Napoleon Wreath, and Sunflower. Cook's personal contribution to the family repertoire was called the Grape Wreath or Grapevine, which became her specialty. She would improvise the leaf shapes as she worked, noting that in nature no two leaves are identical, but she never veered very far from her family traditions. Cook's work was recognized in the Appalachian region for her "exceptional skill and artistry". She joined the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild in 1951. For several decades, she traveled to fairs and art shows to demonstrate and sell her work.


Technique

Her technique has been described as follows:


Legacy

One of Cook's knotted bedspreads is included in the permanent collection of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. Her work was also included in the same organization's 2020 special exhibit titled "The Power of Distinction". Photographs of her work are also included in the "Knotted Bedspread Collection" 1970–1974, created by scholar Thomas A. McGowan and housed by the Special Collections Research Center at Appalachian State University. Cook's children became skilled artists as well, and carried on the tradition into their adulthoods. Cook also taught North Carolina artist Carmelee Craig the colonial knotting techniques that she had learned from her female relatives.


Awards and honors

* 1952: Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, Excellence of Design Award * 1967:
North Carolina State Fair The North Carolina State Fair is an American state fair and agricultural exposition held annually in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1853, the fair is organized by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It attrac ...
, invited artist * 1973: North Carolina Folklore Society, Brown-Hudson Folklore Award * 1973: Southern Highland Handicraft Guild's Lifetime membership award * 1984:
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
,
National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's ...


References


External links


Bertha Hodges Cook at Find a Grave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Bertha 1895 births 1990 deaths People from Watauga County, North Carolina American women artists 20th-century American women artists American textile artists American people of English descent American people of Irish descent National Heritage Fellowship winners