Irene Smith: Métíer Weaving
My love affair with fiber began in early childhood. My first teacher was my mother, who is
Japanese. She taught me the needle arts and the basketry technique of diagonal plating with longleaf bamboo. When I was eleven I became fascinated with the loom and weaving, and told myself "that's what I want to do".
Life intervened, with its many threads and ravels. I even found myself on a long detour through ceramics, with studies in Texas and Japan and a six-year stint as studio assistant to an architectural ceramist. I finally got on the loom in 1988 at the home of a friend and neighbor who wove for the Ortegas in Chimayo, New Mexico.
At the same time, I was offered an
apprenticeship in the repair and restoration of antique Native American
baskets. This opened a new world of fiber, and led to a very productive
period of providing services to galleries and private collectors across the
country. In the nineties, I discontinued work with Native American
antiquities to concentrate on my own basketry, selling at craft fairs and in
galleries. Eventually, my eleven-year-old self demanded to be heard, and I
enrolled in the Fiber Arts program at the El Rito campus of Northern New
Mexco Community College.
There, the emphasis on the Spanish-Colonial generational weaving tradition deepened my appreciation for these textiles. From these beginnings I have continued to learn, explore, experiment while living and working in a supportive community of artists and craftspeople.