Molly Koehn hails from Sublette, KS, where she fell in love with the sky. In the plains of this flat Midwest state, the endless blue stretches to the horizon in every direction, like a giant upside down bowl.
Now based in Houston after receiving her master’s from ASU in 2017, she describes her view of the sky as “just a little square” in her apartment complex courtyard. While it may be a far cry from the wild blue yonder she grew up with, it has inspired her to take her art to new heights.
A textile artist with a fascinating approach, Koehn weaves together steel and natural fibers as masterfully as she weaves together meaning and style. She draws her inspiration from interactions between the natural and the artificial, with the intricacies of both reflected in everything from the materials used to her use of color.
Her current exhibit, aptly named “Here”, is presented and interpreted differently in each location it’s shown in. In Arizona, her steel and silk sculptures drew comparisons to the statuesque cacti in the area, while after a year here in Houston, her work reflects the light pollution and constant construction of Space City.
“My work is very place-based,” Koehn explained during her closing reception, “I started exploring our ‘fabricated environments’, so, cities. How we curate the land. Looking at landscaping, why we plant palm trees, why we plant grass, and sort of the effects that has on the environment.”
Her use of construction-influenced elements is nearly as fascinating as her use of destructive materials. She starts with a fiber made of stainless steel twisted together with linen and silk to create her hand-woven textiles. After weaving, she soaks her material in bleach, which slowly destroys the natural fibers, at different rates. This process leaves gradients of faded color, and even sections of pure steel mesh.
She encouraged audience members at her closing reception to “get up close and personal” with the structures to properly view the intricacies of the natural materials either embedded in or dissolved away from the metal grids.
When asked how long it takes her to set up her loom, Koehn responded “It takes me about 12 hours, to set up my loom, so it’s quite. time. consuming.” she leaned forward slightly to emphasize the effort required for setup, but then continued jauntily, “But it’s a process that I find very therapeutic, and when I first started weaving it would probably take me about 24 hours, so I’ve gotten faster over the years, luckily.”
Koehn’s work also comments on the haphazard manner in which we interact with our environment, with good intentions and attempts at problem solving that often go awry. “This one’s a great example,” she says, pointing to one of her smaller structures, “I made the weaving too big for the structure, and I didn’t want to take the time to fix it, so I clamped it.”
The temporary fix rendered in her art is only matched by the temporary availability of the exhibit itself. “Here” will be on display in the Mary Matteson-Parish Gallery in Building D until September 14, so stop in and see it before it’s gone for good