About Margaret


Biography

As a young child I learned to sew, knit and embroider.  In my  forties, I added quilting to my repertoire, while raising two      children and supporting an ailing husband.  For 30 years I was  supremely organized, responsible and competent -- by turns a  nurse, a credit-and-collections officer, an investment advisor, and  an financial planning report writer and workshop facilitator.

At age 50, I discovered my right brain, and began to experiment  with fabric, fibre, floss, paint and dye.  At first it was grief therapy;  I entered "the Zone" to escape the challenges of my husband's  illness, which was taking its toll on our entire family.

Now the practice of textile art has become pure joy: loose and spontaneous design married to skilled stitchery and embellishment.  I use my art to interpret in textiles the world around me, inspired by my rural hamlet, where everry street ends in trees.

I love the look and feel of layers: fabric weaving, rough-edged applique, free-form machine and/or hand-stitching, including beads, buttons and ribbon where the Muse warrants.  I find myself called to be playful as well as reflective in my choice of subject matter and interpretation.
My invitation to you?  Enjoy!


Exhibits:

Group Exhibits:

2011:
  • "Nobody Here But Us" - SAQA Western Canada Exhibit, Connected Across the West
    • FibreWorks Gallery, Sunshine Coast, BC
  • "Circle Play" - SAQA 2011-2012 Trunk Show, This is a Quilt
2010:
  • "Snippets: A Quilt Artist's Learning Curve" - SAQA Synthesis Exhibit (Travelling Exhibit)
    • Quilt Canada 2010, Calgary, AB
    • FibreWorks Gallery, Sunshine Coast, BC
  • "Picked for the Ripening" - Focus on Fibre Arts Green Exhibit (3rd Prize, Quilting: Small Hanging; Travelling Exhibit)
    • Glenrose Hospital Gallery, Edmonton, AB
    • Dowe Centre, Fort Saskatchewan, AB
    • Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton, AB
  • "One Square Inch" - SAQA Benefit Auction
2009:
  • "Snippets: A Quilt Artist's Learning Curve: - SAQA Synthesis Exhibit (Travelling Exhibit)
    • Cape Breton, NS
    • Shelburne, NS
  • "In the Beginning" - SAQA Synthesis (Ontario)  Exhibit
    • Cumberland Gallery, Ottawa, ON
    • Embassy of the United States of America, Ottawa, ON
2008:
  • "Joy Cometh in the Morning" - SAQA Benefit Auction
  • "Snippets: A Quilt Artist's Learning Curve" - Synthesis - Creativfestival, Toronto, ON (Start of Travelling Exhibit)

Publications:

Knitting Through It: Inspiring Stories for Times of Trouble, Nargi, Lela (Editor), Voyageur Press, St. Paul, MN, USA, 2008: an essay: "Knitting Life, Knitting Love".
Crafts 'n' Things Magazine, AMOS Craft Publishing, Des Plaines, IL, USA, February 2009: "Knitting Life, Knitting Love", reprinted by permission.

Education:

Textile Art:
Design and fabric manipulation: Anna Hergert, Calgary, Alberta, 2004-2006
Beginners' Drawing and Watercolour: Sharon Lynn Williams, Calgary, Alberta, 2005-2007
Contemporary Hand Stitching, Level One Certificate: Gail Harker Creative Studies Center, Oak Harbor, WA, USA, 2007

Other:
Art and Science of Nursing - McGill University, B.Sc(N), 1974
Theology - Thorneloe College, Laurentian University, A.Th., 2000

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