about layne

Layne Jackson Hubbard, Ph.D.

Design Researcher
Taos, New Mexico

Layne Jackson Hubbard is an emerging artist based in Taos and a skilled design researcher with a triple Ph.D. in computer science, cognitive science, and neuroscience.

As a Computing Innovation Fellow, Layne collaborates & advises on the design of educational, interactive, and creative technologies for young children’s books, toys, games, and TV shows, including with PBS, Sesame Street, and the National Head Start Association.

Layne previously taught preschool, and is the founder and director of MindScribe — a research & design studio that creates multilingual games to support young children in reflective storytelling about their creative play. Her work on MindScribe won an OpenIDEO Early Childhood Innovation Award and she’s passionate about helping people tell their stories.

When weaving, Layne explores ways to represent higher-dimensional geometries on lower-dimensional planes — and she's fascinated by symbolic abstraction. She enjoys how weaving both challenges and soothes her brain — while giving her hands & fingers something to do. The fiber arts helps Layne deepen her connection with land, water, plant, animal, people, culture, and math.

Layne is also learning printmaking at UNM-Taos, where she creates pieces that weave together her curiosity about plants, fibers, looms, and shapes. Her prints have been exhibited at the Atrium Gallery's inaugural INK: Taos Contemporary Printmakers show, at the Taos Center for the Arts' Stables Gallery, and are currently on display at the New Mexico Department of Higher Education.

teachers

Layne's weaving teachers include Teresa Loveless, Brook Hemenway, Julie Cloutman, Emily Trujillo, Roy Kady (Diné), Kevin Aspaas (Diné), Lynda Teller Pete (Diné), and Nikyle Begay (Diné).

Her mentors also include Nila Rinehart (Taos Pueblo), Louie García (Socorro del Sur Pueblo), Tyrrell Tapaha (Diné), and Zefren-M Anderson (Diné).

selected weavings

"Place of the Red Willows"

An homage the Taos ecosystem and the Taos Pueblo stewards of this special place we call home. Layne gathered red willow branches near the Rio Fernando de Taos watershed and carefully observed them to select the colors of her wool. Woven with hand dyed wool in a workshop at Taos Wools w/ mentorship from teacher Julie Cloutman.

"Playing with Jaspes"

Layne used this piece to play with jaspes — those fine overlay lines — and how they might build on each other to create complex shapes. Here, she chose the classic Chimayó colors of red, black, and white in order to develop a connection with its rich weaving tradition. Woven in a workshop at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center w/ mentorship from teacher Emily Trujillo, and exhibited in a pop-up at the Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum in Santa Fe.

"Cube on a Loom"

Layne’s very first weaving explores her obsession with hypercubes and her curiosity about representing higher dimensional geometries in lower dimensional space. Woven with hand dyed wool in a workshop at Taos Wools w/ mentorship from teachers Brook Hemenway and Teresa Loveless.