When you walk into Katherine Maxwell's studio, in the heart of Santa Fe, one can experience an overwhelming sense of creation. From every available corner, hook and nail hang the fruits of Katherine's work.

Beautiful, rough-edged tank-tops hang alongside elegant single color gowns. Epic multi-textured shawls seem to drip with fabric, their organic colors brilliant as a clear New Mexican sky. On another wall hang the framed art Maxwell calls her jellyfish, abstract weavings whose vibrating threads appear to float through an ocean of aqua blue fiber. The entire room exudes the warmth of worked art.

Maxwell herself, dressed in camouflage pants, fur-trimmed boots, and one of her own, loose fitting garments, one shoulder exposed, revealing a tattoo, adds to the energy. Her long, fierce brown hair appears a relative of the fabric she uses for her creations. Her eyes are a penetrating steel gray, evaluating, imagining ways to weld the world's creations with her own.

"My work is about the fabric itself rather than the designs. The object being the combination of different fiber and materials to create a sense of three dimensionality and transparency."

In one word: "Construction."

At first glance her work appears gentle and soft, much too delicate to wear. Maxwell's process of construction creates a fiber garment that embraces the human body but holds itself together with unexpected strength. Delicate stitches interlace through complex weavings to forge a crafted solidity that conforms to the shape of the body without constricting movement.

"I've been knitting since I was little girl," says Maxwell. But it wasn't until later in life when she was able to commit herself fulltime to the work.

Born and raised in Boston, Maxwell apprenticed under fiber artist Chloe Sachs making "high-end sculptural knits." She described the process as "interpreting mathematical equations."

"Chloe's ideas were futuristic, outrageous looking and my job was to translate her ideas into knit patterns." This intensive apprenticeship lasted four years after which she spent the better part of a decade in Europe creating the look of photo spreads for fashion magazines. It paid the bills but failed to fulfill her creativity; she neither designed the clothes nor took the photographs.

"I was helping photographers get the look they wanted. It was far different from having a hand in the actual creation of something."

Maxwell returned to Boston and through the non-profit organization, Artists for Humanity, was awarded studio space in exchange for training inner city youth in how to make a living through art.

"The kids were so inspirational. They were on fire. They loved it. Some even ended up going to design school. It forced me to recommit to my first love of fiber arts."

While supporting herself as a massage therapist, she recognized a unique market for her designs in the southwest. Inspired by the tones and textures of Native American weavings she relocated to Santa Fe in 2001 and began selling her work through Homefrocks of Santa Fe and LaLana Wools of Taos, New Mexico.

In May of 2006 she acquired a 1200 square foot producing space that doubles as a studio and show-room. Near the center of her studio, beneath overhead lamps and surrounded by shelves of yarn is her production area, consisting of two Brother KH-230 bulk machine knitters.

"I found one at a garage sale and the other on the web," says Maxwell with a proud smile. "I stripped them down and modified them so I can control the tension by hand."

She selects each stitch at random so that, "Rather than a pattern there's a formula." After choosing her yarn, she knits a body of fabric, purposefully leaving space between the weaves; then finger weaves into those spaces with other fabric, creating the complex, light-weight but surprisingly strong constructions. Instead of exclusively, knitting or weaving, her process is a combination of both.

Recently she has expanded her production beyond garments and into interior design, using her singular style to create window dressings, folding screens, and wall hangings.

With her designs moving briskly, Maxwell took on an apprentice/helper, a Oaxacan, Mexican native named Sol. "I encourage her to do what inspires her. She has a generational knowledge of weaving and when she applies it to what I'm doing here the results are amazing."

Her friendship with Sol inspired Maxwell to plan what she calls a "humane production environment."

She hopes to establish this humane environment in Oaxaca by the end of 2007, not only for the purpose of producing but also for the education and promotion of fiber art. "When people walk into my studio my goal is to inspire and educate them about fiber art."

As a garment takes shape in Maxwell's hands, one realizes what a tedious, intensive focus the work requires. One can't help but wonder why?

"Because it's alive," says Maxwell, her eyes on the thread. "It's alive as your hair is. My mother was a hair stylist. She was able to tease a whole head of hair to stand up for a week. It's funny, I guess, what I'm doing is a progression of that."

-- Interview by Ben Ziegler