“Do you mind if I work while we talk?” asks the Maine -based weaver Jeremy Frey , joining our Zoom call from his studio in the rural town of Eddington, population: 2,272. As we speak, his fingers—sometimes with the help of tweezers—casually transform thin ribbons of ash wood, dyed jet black, into triangular points that dazzle overtop a layer of lime green strips. It’s go time for Frey, who is weaving day in and day out to complete some 15 pieces for his solo show, opening this month at Karma gallery in New York City . The basket he’s working on now—the largest one of the bunch, measuring in at nearly 24 inches tall—will take more than a month to complete. Frey, a seventh-generation basket maker, joins a long line of Wabanaki people (his tribe, the Passamaquoddy, is part of this larger confederacy) to practice the age-old craft. But Frey, a 2025 MacArthur Fellow, doesn’t let himself get stuck within that tradition.…