Carol Eckert was born in North Carolina. Her interest in textiles stems from her childhood, when she spent time experimenting and amusing herself with scraps of fabric, needle and thread. Her interest in mythology began during this period as well, through books she brought home from the library and by listening to folktales and legends from her Swedish grandmother. Eckert majored in studio art at Arizona State University, studying painting. She discovered basketry after several years of working in other media, including ceramics, and eventually developed her own three-dimensional technique based on coiling, an ancient basketry technique.

Eckert has since become well known for her compositions of animal symbols and myths from cultures around the world. Her imagination and experimentation allow her to move away from the myth’s literary meanings to producing symbolic, abstracted hybrids. Her fiber sculptures have become significant additions to private and public collections including Racine Art Museum/Wisconsin, Denver Art Museum/Colorado, Museum of Fine Arts/Boston, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Museum/Washington, DC, de YoungMuseum/San Francisco, Museum of Arts and Design/New York, Mint Museum/North Carolina, and Szombatheli Keptar, Szombathely/Hungary. She currently lives and works in Arizona.