Off-the-grid Alaskan fabric artist dips silk into glacial mud

One hundred and eleven miles from Anchorage, Wendy Smith-Wood is a fiber artist who uses rocks and pebbles to give her fabric texture and pattern. Video produced by Slavik Boyechko, Sara Bernard and Daysha Eaton ofAlaska Public Media

For silk artist Wendy Smith-Wood, living “nearly” off the grid on a remote homestead in Alaska has been a double-edged sword for her art. The cabin that her husband built by hand sits in a “stunningly beautiful” valley near the Matansuska Glacier. Theirs is the second-to-last home on the electrical grid and nine months out of the year, they have no running water. The nearest village is 75 miles away.

Smith-Wood said that isolation gives her plenty of time to work and the landscape provides much inspiration. She often creates dyes based on the seasonally changing colors and she uses rocks and pebbles to give her fabric texture and pattern. But she said she misses the creative interaction that happens when artists come together. It’s one reason she hosts artist workshops on her homestead, with participants staying in cabins on the property. “I sometimes think I get more from my students than they get from me.”

Smith Wood came to Alaska to mush dogs and fell in love with the wild land.

Smith-Wood has only recently become an artist. Her first career was as a soldier in the British Army. But at the age of 27, she was diagnosed with cancer and decided she needed to pursue her “bucket list.” She spent the next 15 years as a mountain guide, leading trips on four continents. In the winters, she mushed dogs in Alaska. One year, she traveled across North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific — 4,350 miles — with one team of dogs on a single journey.

So how does such a thrill seeker become a fabric artist?

“I’ve always been someone who likes taking risks and going places where no one else has gone. Now I’m doing that through my craft instead of the side of mountains,” Smith-Wood said.

Smith-Wood said eight years ago she took a class and became obsessed with mastering the craft of “arashi shibori.” Shibori is the ancient Japanese art of folding and tying silk onto poles to create patterns. She said all of the work is painstakingly done by hand, but then the dyeing process makes the outcome unpredictable.

“I really like that exciting blend of precision and chaos. I’ve always been someone who likes taking risks and going places where no one else has gone. Now I’m doing that through my craft instead of the side of mountains,” she said.

Local Beat is a weekly series on Art Beat that features arts and culture stories from PBS member stations around the nation.