After focusing on tapestry weaving for fourteen years, Molly Elkind’s recent work explores weaving with paper and mixed media that include painted and found images, threads and natural elements.  Since 2018, Molly has been inspired by New Mexico’s high desert landscape, which is rugged, fragile, beautiful--and vulnerable to wildfire and drought.  The structure of weave offers a language with endless expressive possibilities.  Woven structures are an apt metaphor for what we know about the functioning of earth’s ecosystems. The mutual disruption of image and pattern in Molly’s woven collages points to the ways in which our natural environment is experiencing the effects of climate change.

Molly earned an M.A. in Studio Art from the Allen R. Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville in 2002.  Exhibition highlights include two solo exhibits in Atlanta and numerous juried and invitational shows nationwide since 1996.  Molly has been published in a number of fiber art-related publications, and her work is in several private collections. 

Besides making art, Molly is passionate about teaching it.  She is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and teaches both online and in person for fiber guilds and conferences.  When not in her studio Molly can be found out hiking the trails near her home.

Click here for Molly’s CV

You can view the interview I did in January 2025 on Textiles & Tea, the long-running program sponsored by the Handweavers Guild of America.

Click here for link to the video.