School Teaching Staff

 Amy Oxford

Amy is an internationally known punch needle rug hooking instructor who has been teaching since 1986. She is the inventor of The Oxford Punch Needle and the author of five books: Punch Needle Rug Hooking and Volumes I-IV of Hooked Rugs Today. Amy worked as a licensee for the Shelburne Museum to make adaptations of their antique rugs and helped catalog the museum's collection of over 400 hooked rugs. She is the past president of The Vermont Crafts Council and past vice president of The Green Mountain Rug Hooking Guild. Oxford learned to rug punch in 1982 while working for McAdoo Rugs in North Bennington, Vermont. When McAdoo closed in 2010 Amy purchased their collection of over 1,000 rug designs. Six hundred of these are available for students at her new school, and many McAdoo patterns are available for purchase online. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and at Vermont's Bennington Museum. She is the owner of The Oxford Company and founder of The Oxford Rug Hooking School.

Heidi Whipple

Heidi started working at The Oxford Company in 2009 by assembling Oxford Punch Needles. She took a lesson from Amy in 2010 to learn about punch needle rug hooking and fell in love with the craft. Heidi punched many rugs and wall hangings over the next three years and received her Oxford Teacher Certification in 2013. Heidi learned to dye yarn under the guidance of Sara Burghoff, the founder of Violet Jane. When The Oxford Company purchased Violet Jane in 2014, Heidi began dyeing Violet Jane for our many customers and students. 1n 2015 Heidi took a four-day intensive dye workshop at The Pro Chemical & Dye Company to further her dyeing knowledge. In addition to teaching punch needle rug hooking and yarn dyeing, she is the manager of the The Oxford Company. Her desire to help others in all aspects of life makes teaching a special joy for her, especially to see others enjoy and feel proud of their accomplishments.

Bob Wertz