Jeremy Frey: The Generational Impact of a New Artistic Path

Jeremy Frey is one of the most celebrated Indigenous weavers in the country. Hailing from Maine, he learned traditional Wabanaki weaving techniques from his mother and through apprenticeships with the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance. His art balances tradition with innovation, while imbuing each object with new ideas and creating a market for objects that haven’t traditionally been part of the contemporary art gallery ecosystem. Through experimentation, he has forged a singular aesthetic that embraces the fusion of craft, design, and contemporary art, while being influenced by forms of every kind and developing his own techniques that push the artform to new levels.

Frey was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2025, and he will join Hyperallergic co-founder and editor-at-large Hrag Vartanian to talk about how he shepherds each artwork that begins with harvesting his own materials and ending with works that have challenged traditional categorization and been exhibited in the world's most renowned art museums.

This event is free for Hyperallergic paid members.

Jeremy Frey (b. 1978, Passamaquoddy Indian Township Reservation, Maine) is one of the foremost Passamaquoddy craftspeople of his generation. A descendant of a long line of Indigenous weavers, Frey learned traditional Wabanaki methods from his mother and by apprenticing at the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance. Woven from natural materials that the artist himself forages, such as sweetgrass and wood from black ash trees, Frey’s vessels are characterized by subtle forms, delicately layered colors, and elaborate weaves. Building on and experimenting with the material histories of Wabanaki basketry, his work is also in dialogue with contemporary sculpture’s emphasis on materiality, form, and variation within repetition. To create his basket relief prints, Frey has developed a novel form of flat weaving that can be run repeatedly through a printing press, preserving and sharing his techniques without impacting the stock of his rare materials. Frey lives in Maine.

Hrag Vartanian is editor-at-large, founding editor, and co-founder of Hyperallergic.

Previously on Hyperallergic

The Mesmerizing Wonder of Wabanaki Weaving

Jeremy Frey’s first museum show presents the artist’s virtuosic craft as must-see contemporary work.

HyperallergicJulie Schneider

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