The Blanden Memorial Art Museum presents “Walking In Traffic,” a solo exhibition by textile artist Debra Smith, which is on view through Jan. 24, 2026.

“Walking In Traffic” is described as a meditation on movement, hesitation, trust, chaos and flow. The series was inspired by a moment in Cairo, Egypt, where a young man Smith met the night before reappeared just as she and her mother stood stranded before six relentless lanes of traffic. When she asked how to cross, he simply said “You just have to go. They will stop for you.” Then he guided them forward.

That same trust stepping into uncertainty with faith is echoed in Smith’s artistic practice.

“Some days the weight of it all dulls instinct, other days the work itself becomes the only way forward,” she said in a statement issued by the Blanden Memorial Art Museum.

A third generation textile artist, Smith draws inspiration from the passions and explorations of her mother and grandmother, women who instilled in her a reverence for fabric, its history, its makers and the memories it holds. Working with vintage textiles, she honors the hands that wove them before her, preserving their essence while transforming them into a contemporary narrative.