[2]  She enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley in 1926, where she studied a broad range of art subjects, as well as architecture, music and languages, graduating in 1931.

In 1929 Mood took a year off from UC Berkeley to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland to study anatomy, pen-and-ink, and outdoor sketching.

Martha almost lost her life and she required numerous surgeries over the next two years to repair extensive facial injury.

She rejected conservative values (such as the realistic depiction of subjects and precise embroidery), was innovative, experimented with form (the shapes, colors, and lines that make up the work) with a tendency to abstraction, and emphasized material, technique, and process.

She provided instructions for composition, subject matter, materials and yarns, color arrangement, construction, embroidery stitches, inspiration and creativity.

Mood wrote, "Its primary requirements are a seeing eye, an open mind, a little courage, and a craftsman's feel for the medium.

[13] In 1957, when notable Texan architect O'Neil Ford was looking for an artist to make light fixtures for his work, he met Martha Mood at her solo ceramic sculpture exhibit in San Antonio.

Martha developed the designs for the fixtures while Beau made the molds, mixed the clay, and cast the pieces.

[16] The fixtures were perforated with hundreds of tiny holes from which the light shined through and small lined designs formed patterns.

Martha and Beaumont Mood Fixtures can be found at Trinity University, Saint Mary’s Hall Prep School, the Denton, Texas municipal buildings,[15] Texas Instruments Semiconductor Building in Dallas, Johnson City Post Office, the Bill Miller BBQ restaurant,[16] the Scribner Library at Skidmore College in Saratoga, NY.,[2] as well as mid-century modern homes and structures in Denton, Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

She took photographs for several books, including: Martha Mood's works have been exhibited in approximately 20 cities in the United States.

Private collectors include: Lyndon B. Johnson, John Connally, Winthrop Rockefeller, Clint Murchison, O'Neil Ford, and Charles Urschel.