Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Haynes.
Hi Molly, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am an artist and weaver originally from the east coast. I grew up surrounded by the textured, abstract artworks of my great-grandfather in my childhood home, which inspired me to pursue art since I was a kid. Years later I learned that his work was directly inspired by his mother’s collection of Bulgarian rugs. His paintings, alongside my excursions to the coastal marshlands in Massachusetts, laid a foundation for my tactile sensibility. I went on to study Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated in 2014. I fell in love with the potential to draw with a material in space and truly found myself as an artist when I learned to weave.
RISD led me to a job in the interior textiles industry in New York, where I designed upholstery and drapery fabrics to be produced on industrial jacquard looms. I was able to travel to Italy, India, Germany and across the US to visit with weaving mills and collaborate closely with their designers, who are master artists themselves. While it was a total dream job, something in me was itching to get back onto a traditional loom and work with my hands again; to make work that didn’t have utilitarian constraints. I wanted to make sculptures. I started my art studio on nights and weekends while I worked full-time, and eventually started showing and selling my work. I left that job in 2019 to focus on my art.
Now to the California part…I always dreamed of living out west. When my partner, a native Californian, was accepted to law school in LA, I was thrilled to have an excuse to move out there. Unfortunately, that was in 2020 and we went straight into lockdown, but since things have opened back up, I’ve been absorbed into the art community here. I am thrilled to call LA my home and have pulled an immense amount of inspiration from the California landscapes I’ve encountered over the past few years.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Landing in a new city during a pandemic with only a few art-world connections was certainly a challenge! There was a lot more anxiety and awkwardness around reaching out to people at that time. Three years later and I’m finally feeling like I’m settling in. But in general, the highs and lows of being an artist are extreme. There’s a lot of rejection and failure that goes on behind the scenes and I’m grateful I have a support network where we are all rooting for each other.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work on a floor loom to weave sculptural works that explore structure and materiality. I’m known for making complex, tactile surfaces that blur the line between natural and human-made. Depending on the materials I use, they can resemble architectural grids and nets or appear more like organic natural systems. The work finds harmony in the tension between humans and the natural world and uses weaving as a metaphor for the ways we distort the order of nature.
I’m most proud of my current series where I’ve introduced voids into the work as a way to add a new layer of dimension. I like the idea of carving away at the material instead of increasingly adding more. There’s something about creating a composition through reduction that really excites me.
I think what sets me apart from others is that I’m very experimental with my work, but have a clear language. I primarily use a weave structure called “deflected wefts,” which I learned at RISD and later saw used in the textile industry. I have an insatiable thirst to try new materials and am willing to work with “difficult” materials such as clear fishing lines and unprocessed plant fibers which take time to master. My work is recognizable for the way I control and distort these materials during the weaving process, bringing tension and order to chaos.
I should also mention that I exhibit my work in galleries and also work directly with interior designers and clients on commissions. I’m excited to show new work with Arden and White Gallery in CT this summer and La BEAST Gallery in LA this fall.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Visiting my grandparents who live year-round on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Near their house is a tidal current that cuts through a marsh and spills out into the bay. If you time it right, you can float deep into the marsh just by the pull of the current. Then, you wait for the tide to turn and have it carry you back out to sea.
Contact Info:
- Website: mollyhaynes.us
- Instagram: @mollyhaynes_
Image Credits
Moe Wakai
