Irene Clark

{{short description|Navajo weaver}}

{{About|the Navajo weaver|the American painter|Irene V. Clark}}

{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox artist

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| name = Irene Clark

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| birth_name = Irene Hardy

| birth_date = 1934

| birth_place = Navajo Nation at Crystal, New Mexico, USA

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| nationality = Navajo

| education = Special Program for Navajos in Chilocco, Oklahoma

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| known_for = weaving, educating others in traditional Navajo weaving and fiber arts

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| spouse = Jimmy Clark Teesto

| awards = Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award 1995
numerous first place awards from the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial, the Navajo Nation Fiar, and the Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff

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Irene Hardy Clark is a Navajo weaver. Her matrilineal clan is Tabaahi (water's edge people) and her patrilineal clan is Honagha nii (he walks around one people). Her technique and style is primarily self-taught, incorporating contemporary and traditional themes.{{cite book|last1=Wilkins|first1=Teresa J.|title=Patterns of Exchange: Navajo Weavers and Traders|date=2013|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=9780806186627|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T7SGERD31k8C&q=irene+clark+weaver+teacher&pg=PA184|accessdate=18 January 2017}}

Her mother, Glenebah Hardy, mentored her in traditional techniques. Clark processes the sheep's wool used in her weavings by washing, cleaning, carding and hand spinning it. She then dyes it with plant and lichen dyes, and uses an upright steel loom to create the weaving. Clark's work has been exhibited in museums, art galleries and has been featured as the subject of the 1991 film, Weavers, by DeSciose Productions, Denver.{{cite journal|title=Annual Report|journal=American Association of Museums, Museum News|date=January–February 1994|volume=73|issue=1|pages=65–80}}{{cite journal|last1=Bolz|first1=Diane M.|title=The Enduring Art of Navajo Weaving|journal=Smithsonian Magazine|date=1994|volume=25|issue=4|page=20}}{{cite book|last1=Hedlund|first1=Ann lane|title=Navajo Weaving in the Late Twentieth Century: Kin, Community, and Collectors|date=2004|publisher=University of Arizona|location=Tucson|isbn=9780816524129|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LyP0wjv8syUC&q=Irene+clark+navajo+weaver+collections&pg=PA17|accessdate=18 January 2017}} Clark is a traditional teacher, having shared her knowledge of weaving and techniques to several generations.{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=David M.|title=Weaving New Traditions: Irene Clark, creator of Navajo rugs, hands down her art generation to generation|url=http://www.azwriter.com/documents/10073_irene_clark_masters_of_the_southwest_phoenix_home_and_garden_reduced.pdf|accessdate=18 January 2017}}