Phyllis MacLaren's art work has evolved over the years from a fiber based approach to mixed media; from non subjective to political topics.

The political work started with the effort to pass The Equal Rights Amendment in the mid 70's. Although Phyllis' work had incorporated large woven faces before, this face was woven with strips of cloth with the text of The Equal Rights Amendment repeated over and over. This approach was subtle yet powerful. The face was repeated a few years after the amendment failed. This time, the face looked through a grid and was called "Looking In."

The grid and writing became important staples of The Message Series. The first of this Series was called "Chinese Sisters," a small box of what appeared to be rocks with chinese letters on them and a grid covering all. The boxes and rocks grew larger, and addressed themes of The Democracy Wall and Tienenmon Square in China, human trafficing in Nepal and India, The Democratic Movement of Indonesia, Women's issues in the Middle East, the Mayan of Guatemala. The words were in their native languages with a grid over all to represent the continuing oppression and the difficulty in getting the message out.

The final pieces of this series were no longer dedicated to anonymous people. Twenty-five large independent rocks were constructed and bound with wire or cord and dedicated to individual human rights activists who were incarcerated or missing at that time. The language of the person was written on the rock.

MacLaren's current series on Human Rights evolved similarly from anonymous issues to individual people. A message in the person's language is included. This series continues to evolve.