Betty and Clay Smith Award

2026 Winner

This year‘s winner of the Smith Award is a uniquely creative, and talented fiber artist expressing her creativity in various fiber techniques. Her name is Estephanie Perez. She hopes eventually to bring textile experiences into the classroom in places that might normally not teach any fiber arts. Her bio below tells a little bit about her journey in fiber arts and plans for her future involvement in fiber.

Estephanie Perez comes highly recommended by her teacher, Jess Self, at the University of North Georgia. Here is her evaluation of Estephanie ‘s qualifications and the reason that she chose her for this award.

It is my pleasure to recommend Estephanie Perez for the Smith Award. In selecting a student for this recognition, I considered several criteria: dedication to the development of fiber arts skills, technical growth in weaving, creativity in project execution, and a demonstrated commitment to advancing their craft beyond course expectations. Estephanie stood out in all of these areas.

Estephanie was a student in two of my weaving courses, where she consistently distinguished herself through both her work ethic and the quality of her projects. She took great pride in developing her craft and technical skills in the fiber arts, approaching each assignment with care, curiosity, and determination. Her work demonstrated a strong understanding of the techniques we studied, as well as a willingness to push those techniques further through thoughtful experimentation.

What impressed me most about Estephanie was her ambition and drive. She consistently went above and beyond the basic requirements of each project, investing additional time to refine her work and challenge herself technically. Her ability to thoughtfully apply newly learned weaving techniques while maintaining strong craftsmanship reflects both her dedication and her potential for continued growth in the field.

Estephanie’s enthusiasm for weaving, commitment to skill development, and pursuit of excellence make her a highly deserving candidate for the Smith Clay Award. I am confident she will continue to build upon the strong foundation she has established and contribute meaningfully to the fiber arts community.

A note of thanks from Estephanie:

I want to thank the Betty Smith family for the honor of getting this award and being able to showcase my artwork to a broader audience. I truly appreciate this opportunity given to me because my love for textile arts grows deeper the more I create. While I have now graduated I am still creating and plan to keep creating while looking for job opportunities. I will add this award on my resume to showcase to future employers my ability to create art.  Currently I am working on obtaining a position in the art education field where I plan to bring textile work into the classroom, so that students can learn the textile arts that are not primarily taught in most classrooms. 

With much gratitude,

Estephanie Perez

About the Award

In 2020, a proposal was made to the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild Board to honor Betty and Clay Smith who had contributed greatly to our Educational Mission. It was decided that a Fiber Arts student should receive a monetary award that could be used to further their personal work.  A five hundred dollar annual award was established in memory of Claiborne and in honor of Betty Smith as part of our annual budget.  Award recipients were to be enrolled in an accredited fiber arts program.  The awards committee contacted institutions in Georgia to review their criteria for student awards and it was decided that we would make the award through the University of North Georgia’s Textile Department.  Each year the committee works with the head of the Textile Arts program for the selection of a student committed to a career in the Fiber Arts.

Betty and Clay Smith

Betty and Clay joined the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild in 1979 after moving to Atlanta from Puerto Rico in 1978.  Already a weaver, Betty increased her knowledge by classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School and through her work at the Tully Smith House of the Atlanta Historical Society.  Betty and Clay maintained a studio in their Marietta home where she taught private lessons, sold looms, books, yarn and other weaving supplies.  Clay began repairing wheels and looms.  From the start she strongly encouraged her students to join the Guild since it would provide a great support group as they progressed in their skills.

Betty joined the board in 1982.  At that time the guild was still meeting in a variety of places and she headed a search committee to find a permanent home.  Ultimately DeKalb County provided us space in our current location.  Clay helped work with the county to prepare the rooms for the Guild’s use.  Clay was always there at every meeting. He not only repaired the Guild’s looms, he was ready to lend a hand to any member who needed help with their looms or spinning wheels.  As a woodworker and with blacksmith experience, many times Clay was able to craft parts for old looms.  Clay was also a founding member of the Blacksmithing Guild at Tully Smith.  Betty taught classes at the Guild and the John C. Campbell Folk school.  She also formed the Education Committee and served on the Standards and Ratings Committee.  Betty had many objectives for the Guild. She encouraged member involvement in committees to keep them supportive of guild activities and with Clay were instrumental in the huge success of the 1998 Convergence in Atlanta.

When the Handweavers Guild of America’s (HGA) began their biennial conferences, they recruited member guilds around the country to be the sponsors and basically run the conference.  This was no small feat.  CHG was one of the last guilds to independently host Convergence in 1998. Soon after HGA assumed full responsibility at the national level for these conferences.  Betty and Clay were key Guild members for Convergence ’98.  Betty was in charge of all the volunteers for the conference and Clay carved dogwood blossoms used as gifts and decorations at the event.  From 1991 through 1999 Betty served as the Georgia state representative to HGA.

It is really hard to document in a short space all of the great things that Betty and Clay Smith did in support of the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild.  The Smith’s retired to Jekyll Island in 2000, where Betty set up a weaving program there where she teaches with her daughter.