Elana employs the historical tradition of natural dyeing to create imaginary works from threads, papers, textiles, and upcycled fabrics. A wanderer and forager, she enjoys gathering her own dye materials and brews vibrant dyes with the natural resources she finds around her home in Tucson, Arizona. Elana’s work explores themes of gender and body politics, including aging, childlessness, ancestry, and size. She also creates wearable pieces, most notably silk scarves.

Born in Berkeley, California, Elana grew up in the lush landscape of the Puget Sound region of Washington State and the high-desert mountains of Northern Arizona. Elana knew from a young age that she possessed an acute sensitivity to color, which led her to pursue natural dyeing as a medium in 2019. In 2022 she began to build intricate collages from her naturally dyed papers and textiles.

Elana graduated from Smith College with a BA in women and gender studies, emphasizing women’s history and literature. Her studies in gender, as well as in English literature, women’s history, and social theory inspire many of the themes explored in her work. She loves stories, interiors, dreams, artifacts, travel, fashion, mythology, design, times past, and the natural world. One can often find her convening with cats, plants, beetles, ants, and other creatures she encounters in her desert home. She will never say no to a history podcast.

When not in her studio, Elana enjoys teaching the art and science of natural dyeing to public and private audiences in Arizona, and beyond.