Raveling Lines

These paintings are part of an exhibition Raveling Lines solo show at Exhibit 208 in Albuquerque, NM from February 9- March 2, 2018.

Raveling Lines is an exhibition of new oil paintings, mixed-media collages and fiber sculpture. 

Textiles become an extension of Molly’s emotions, malleable and intimate. Her interaction with textiles is one of intense and close observation, that extends to the natural world. Working as a textile restorer for Navajo weavings, Molly uses these experiences of blending colors of wool, and spinning yarn to reweave the patterns in rugs to influence her painting process. She pulls on her intuitive perceptions of color, form, pattern and movement—where the repetitive hand of weaving transforms into the language of her brushstrokes. 

She began to see in her daily routine a variety of flexible grids that mimic the structure of weaving—window blinds look like looms, and architectural forms reference the invisible horizontal and vertical 3D structure of a weaving. Collecting moments of mundane beauty and cultivated natural spaces finding the patterns throughout them: a blanket over the earth. The woven patterns of textiles become the coverings that soften our interior space and bring the landscape into our homes. 

“I begin my thoughts as dotted lines, pen and marker drawings, cutout shapes taped onto colored paper to describe a moment of intimacy that I experience with these textiles around me. These fabrics of clothing and blankets become the accents to our lives, softening our interior spaces into worlds of comfort, warmth, and protection. A thread, a line, a piece of cloth, a brushstroke; these all speak to me as if they are feelings woven together to create personalities like a rug is a real person. Paintings have to be a “living, breathing” thing for me. I wanted a stronger, richer connection to the materiality and process.”

Read more about her process in a written exchange with Los Angeles based painter, Allison Miller.