- [Alessandra] The San Diego region is home to many artists who work in an assortment of media.

As a curator and educator, I want to know what inspires these creatives.

This is "Insights Into Art."

(mellow music) (gentle music) On this episode of "Insights Into Art," we cross the border to visit textile artist Irma Sofia Poeter at her home studio in Tecate, Mexico.

(gentle music continues) - Hola.

- Hola, Alessandra.

How are you?

Welcome.

- I'm good.

We found it.

- Aww!

- This is so beautiful.

- Nice to see you.

Well, welcome to Arcadia.

This is my compound.

Well, you know, when I moved here, the only house that was standing here was this house, which is Fire House.

All my houses have the names of the elements.

This is the one that I use for my guests and for my Airbnb.

- I feel like "Alice in Wonderland" stepping through the looking glass.

This is so beautiful.

- Yeah.

Living in a straw bale house is a completely different sensation.

I mean, just by the smell, you smell, like, the earth, you know, and you feel, like, the warmth of the walls and everything.

This is the second part of the property.

This is where I stay.

This is where I live.

And I have this garden.

Most of them are native plants that I like to plant.

And I also have a sweat lodge, the temazcal.

This is Water House.

- So this is where the magic happens, huh?

- Yeah.

Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't happen.

(Alessandra laughs) I get very inspired in this place, I really do.

And, you know, every day I come into the studio, sometimes just to organize, sometimes just to work.

But yeah, work ethic is important.

(mellow music) - Irma's studio is immaculate and neatly organized, like a library of fabrics, colors, and textiles, while remaining artistically radiant and fun.

This reflects the precision of her needlework and the complexity of her finished garments.

For Irma, the location of her studio is intentional and personal.

She draws energy and connection from the land, which flows into the art that she creates.

So thank you for bringing us to take a peek on how you actually make these pieces.

Tell me about this.

- Yeah, this is a piece that I'm working on, my new series of work that I'm working right now, and it's kind of a retrospective on my time here in Tecate, you know, my 10 years that I've been here and the experiences that I've lived living here.

So this piece is called "The Blue Shaman."

So I kind of dwelled into the spiritual part of my journey.

So I wanted to capture the shaman in a altered state, so that's why she has all this veins and structure.

These are just scraps that I have there and I don't throw away anything.

Let me see.

This one here, especially this one you can see.

This.

This is a tablecloth, right here, from Peru, this area right here.

So everything is just draped.

You see?

- Yes.

- And it has like this origami thing.

- You must have so much fun.

- I do.

I do love my work.

- I want to come and just play with you.

(both laugh) - Dress up, play dress up.

- Dress up, play dress up.

Play dress up with you.

It's just fantastic.

I don't sew and I'm a little bit too impatient, but I do go always in search of amazing fabrics and things and I love juxtaposing.

So I love how you have all the chaquira beaded with this, which I think it's... Who would think to put those two together, you know?

- And they go perfect.

- And they go perfectly.

- Yeah, yeah.

And then this is a Huichol sash, belt, that I incorporated here.

And this is just contemporary things that they use to adorn, you know, like evening dresses, and then I put the Sacred Heart right here.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- Gorgeous.

- This is not cut either.

- So Irma, I want you to tell us more about this particular piece and kind of the concept behind it.

- Yeah, this garment I did during, in 2018 while the big controversy about the wall was up.

Rhetoric was, you know, to be, we need to protect ourselves, you know, from the other.

And that really motivated me to talk about protection, you know, in garments.

What would be a protective garment, of course, is a coat.

This piece is made out of fabric from Africa.

This is mud cloth from Africa and it's stamped with the triangles, you know, which is a symbol of femininity.

And then you have this part, which is from a part of a sari, so you have from India.

This textile is from Chiapas, right here.

And in the back is the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is the main protector of, you know, the Mexican culture.

I also used the rabbit fur.

The rabbit fur talks about fertility.

- And then the other thing that I noticed too from knowing about the Virgen de Guadalupe and the story about the roses, of her kind of appearing and arriving to protect the indigenous people in Mexico.

- Yes.

- Well, this is so amazing.

I can't imagine.

How long would it take you to make something like this?

- [Irma] Yeah, I'm a little bit of an obsessive artist.

(both chuckle) - [Alessandra] Just a little bit.

- For me, it's sewing by hand, especially sewing by hand.

It's a meditation, right?

So for me, it's no work at all.

But it takes me a while, sometimes longer than other times, but it is just the time and the concentration and the meditation that really just is the thing that really turns me on as an artist.

- Beautiful.

Thank you.

Why did you pick this spot for, not only living, but for creating?

- The mountain spoke to me.

I knew that this mountain is a very sacred place for the Kumeyaay.

It's a healing place.

It's a vortex.

It's an energy, a very strong energy here.

And I wanted to live right as close as I could to the mountain.

- And it also, the fact that the fence ends at that part where the terrain is very rugged and very difficult, so that also has made it more treacherous for people who cross because they have to go to that part that is so dangerous.

Thank you so much, Irma.

Irma, this was really fantastic.

I really appreciate you allowing us to take a peek into your practice and inviting us to your beautiful studio and home, and it's just been a wonderful experience.

- Thank you so much, Alessandra.

You're wonderful.

(mellow music) - [Alessandra] It was exciting to see Irma's process and visit her studio.

I could clearly see how this space at the foot of the sacred Kumeyaay Mountain has inspired her work and the energy that she receives is transmuted and channeled into her creations.

Thank you, Irma, for revealing a little insight into your art.

(mellow music)