6 were warm and friendly but quiet. I have many memories of that lost country. Bogotá, where I have lived my entire life, is a populous city in a savannah very high in the Andes and far from the sea. It is cool, gray and rainy, nestled in a landscape of deep, dark- green vegetation. During my youth, society was religious and traditional. People were solemn and reserved. They dressed in dark clothes which contrasted starkly with the white-washed walls of the buildings and the red tiles of the roofs. I have been in the world of fiber for forty years after being introduced to textiles at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michi- gan. For this reason I hold a special place inmy heart for North America whose people have enthusiastically and generously supported my work and career. This evening I want to familiarize all of you with my work during the last 20 years, since I consider these years to be the most fulfilling of my forty-five-year career. I will start with a description of the materials I have been using for the last 20 years and how these materials become finished pieces. I will likewise mention the thoughts, dreams, experiences and ideas that are also indispensable to my work. One of my favorite materials is linen. It is a vegetable fiber; thin, clean and hard as a line, texture-less and pure . These lines of linen give tension and flatten the surface of the final cloth. Alone, it is a beautiful fiber. In the same manner, cotton is a clean, white natural fiber. Its spongy resilience adapts to the structure of the linen thread. Weaving linen and cotton together creates the perfect sur- face: a clay-like cloth that is the basis of the strips which are, in turn, the cornerstone of my work . I have always thought about themas a way of making the thin, elemental thread, much larger and more visible. From these strips I develop my first rectangular, perfectly proportioned, fundamental units . 1. Linen fibers. 2. Linen and cotton fiber. 3. Linen and cotton elements. 4. Lucy Rie’s mended vase.