I am pleased that I can finally share with you photos of a piece that feels like it took forever to do!  Mayday Mayday Mayday, (c) Molly Elkind 2024.  27" x 16.6" x .5".  Cotton, wool, silk, paper, synthetic, plastic  Mayday Mayday Mayday, details.  (c) Molly Elkind 2024.  27" x 16.6" x .5".  Cotton, wool, silk, paper, synthetic, plastic This piece has a long and winding origin story.  In hopes that you, like me, enjoying hearing about other artists' process stories for their work, I'm going to share with you how this one evolved. I ..read more

Heads-up: Wordy post ahead with not much eye candy. If I know anything about tapestry weavers, it's that when we're not weaving, many of us are reading!  If you're looking for your next good book to curl up with, maybe something here will help.   Lately I've been having to cut down on my weaving time, alas, because my shoulder is complaining. I know better than to weave for 2 hours without a break, but I get into the zone and then my body reminds me later, in a most unpleasant tone of voice.  Rebecca Mezoff reminds me that above all, I need to stop and take a break every 25 ..read more

If you've followed this blog for long you know I love to look back and to look forward as we approach the end of a calendar year.  I truly believe the best information about our personal and studio goals for the next year are to be found in reflecting on what we've done, not done, succeeded at--and failed at--in the recent past.   This year I decided to take a twist on my usual approach, where I look at the extremely . . . um, optimistic goals I set back at the beginning of the year and note ruefully how many of them remain unaccomplished.   This time I thought I'd be super ..read more

It was great fun to participate in a panel discussion last week hosted by Handweavers Guild of America  as part of Spinning and Weaving Week.  Hosted by Julia Blake, Patsy Zawistoski and Tegan Frisino and I talked online about those weaving and spinning myths that get handed down through the generations and that ain't necessarily true.  We discussed how some myths are really just rules that are helpful for beginning spinners and weavers, and that once you get some experience working within the rules, you can understand how to break them effectively.  We talked about how som ..read more

Next to weaving, making up new classes has been one of my favorite things to do.  I love having an excuse to dive deep into a topic and share what I've learned with fellow weavers.  Right now I'm in the middle of creating a new workshop:  Essentials of Tapestry Design.  I'm distilling the crucial strategies, tips and design principles that have been scattered across a whole range of my classes into one place.  Plus I’m adding new content, since tapestry is bottomless and I keep finding out new things! This new workshop will make its debut online with Mid-Atlantic Fiber ..read more

Today I'm picking up where I left off last month, talking about my takeaways from the two-week tour of tapestry in France that I was fortunate to take in June.  I ended that post with this thought: For me, the most moving work retains an essential mystery at its core, a stillness.  I experienced this when looking at the Lady and the Unicorn, the Apocalypse, and the Song of the World.     Mon Seul Desir, detail, from The Lady and the Unicorn cycle of tapestries at the Museum of the Middle Ages, (formerly the Cluny) in Paris. (Sorry--photo distorted due to unavoida ..read more

 I returned from a tour of tapestry in France two weeks ago and I'm still processing what I saw and learned.  I expect to be doing that for a long time to come.  Under the expert guidance and unfailing good humor of our leader Cresside Collette, we journeyed from Paris to Angers, Albi and Soreze, and Aubusson, with a few side trips thrown in.  We saw what my Art History 101 professor would have called the "key monuments" of tapestry:  The Lady and the Unicorn, the Apocalypse, and Jean Lurçat's  The Song of the World.  We also saw lots of contemporary work and ..read more

I'm just back from a fun few days in Houston at the Contemporary Handweavers Guild of Texas (CHT) conference.  I taught two classes, "Using Photos to Design Tapestry" and Sampling:  Your Tapestry Superpower.  It was great being with so many engaged tapestry people! The keynote speech by Nathalie Miebach was interesting and thought-provoking. As usual, once students entered my classroom I got caught up in the moment and totally forgot to take photos, so sorry about that. What imaginative, curious and welcoming artists!    I was also bowled over by the art on offer in Ho ..read more

 You’ve been making your tapestries (or other fiber art) for a while now and frankly, your work is pretty good!  You’d like to to get it out there. Where do you start?  Maybe you already share your work on social media, but you’d like to show in physical shows, maybe even juried exhibits, where more people can see your pieces up close.   If you’re a member of a local weaving guild or art center, their member shows are a great start.  Volunteer for the hanging committee, or to be a scribe for a visiting juror or judge, to get behind-the-scenes experience in what’s invol ..read more

Warning: long post ahead wherein I talk to myself and invite you to follow me down multiple rabbit holes.  The muse sometimes strays deep into the weeds, and you’re helpless not to follow.  For a while now, I’ve been working toward making my tapestries more like objects in themselves, less like pictures. I’ve used collage not just as a design strategy for the imagery, but as a construction and materials approach to my weavings. WUI 7: gas/oil (detail). Linen, plastic survey marking whiskers, blue grama grass.  17 x 12 x 1.5" framed, including fringe.  2023   &n ..read more