Review: Walking in Traffic
Debra Smith, an artist born in Kansas City in 1971, is a contemporary textile artist known for her abstract fabric collages that blur the boundaries between fiber art, painting, and drawing. Smith studied at the Italian Academy of Fashion & Design and Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy, before earning a BFA in Fiber from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1993. She later received an Associate Degree in Applied Science from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York in 2002. She was a resident artist at Studios Inc. from 2015 to 2019.
Studios Inc. Assistant Gallery Manager Jaede Bayala recently visited Debra’s Show “Walking in Traffic” at Haw Contemporary. The show will be on view at Haw Contemporary from May 30th until July 16th, 2025.
It was in Debra Smith’s show, Walking in Traffic, at Haw Contemporary, that had me considering how I practice gratitude when I stop to notice the intricacies of life, and the beauty it holds. My eyes follow along the stitched threads, getting lost in the weave of the fabrics. I think I could walk these paths forever, traveling the sidestreets of the seams that diverge onto the main roads of cotton and silk.
Smith’s work beautifully transform found fabric, intuitively piecing together materials. Within the work I am considering the history of the materials of vintage silks and ties, appreciating their journey all the way from their moment of creation to a new life as a part of Smith’s pieces. The artist’s textile paintings have a lyricism that brings them to life. When stepping back to view the exhibition room as a whole, everything stands still. It is when I step in front of the piece that the song begins.
Walking in Traffic will be on view at Haw Contemporary from May 30th until July 16th, 2025.
You can learn more about Debra Smith at https://www.debramsmith.com
