Consumable Waste

While Remix has been used as a means to remix our cultural and material surroundings it has been used extensively as a means of critiquing our environment. The aim of this project is to create a body of work that questions an object “end state” and our current ideas as to what qualifies an end state.

With the proliferation of material objects and their impermanent and impersonal attributes there is little engagement between the object and the user. This detachment encourages a rapid cycle of acquisition, use and disposal with little or no critical thought associated to the objects worth. Re-mix and Mash-ups act as cultural critiques of the mass production/consumption practices and are as much political statements as they are design solutions.

The engagement in conceptual and experimental design enables consumers and users to engage and participate in a more critically aware consumer culture. Re-mix cultures posses the ability to communicate ideas and values beyond the transitory and superficial ones currently available.

Embroidery has a huge history. Thousands of years. Women do it every day. But not like this.

Margaret’s work supports delicately sewn drawings on taut fabric. The works produce a light and whimsical treatment stitching the contours with a simple straight stitch, yielding intricate and lacy images. The works reveal Margaret’s early influence with textiles, the sensual and tactile nature of making art. Her choice of material - thread, beads, fabric and nail polish - depicts her figurative subject matter with materials familiar to women. Sewing and stitching together these elements speaks of relationship and the possibilities of knowing and loving the ‘other’.

For the most part, Margaret perceives the hands and eyes as the most telling parts because of their ability to communicate without using words. She exaggerates these to reinforce her point. The sensuousness of the line in Margaret’s contour drawings evokes passion and pleasure.

Line is a fascinating element for her, and she seeks to demonstrate that, woven together by the threads of our experience, we are connected to one another. Whether the figure is fully or fractionally expressed, ultimately, we reveal the nature of our character to one another.

Margaret is particularly interested in utilizing found objects and items that seemingly have little value. Turning “nothing” into something results in beauty, resurrecting these undervalued materials with new vitality. When placed in another contextual application, as in her artwork, they experience a new genesis, bringing attention, significance and an élan vital. She enjoys exploring a variety of materials to discover how they relate to one another, co-exist and merge together to create a dialogue.

Margaret has a strong sense and commitment to reducing her ecological footprint as a matter of daily practice. She has come by it quite honestly, as she came from a family of creative and skilled Europeans who used and recycled everything. She continues to believe in this practice and embodies it in her art.

Dimensions: “Captured” - 44.5″ x 25″, “Vigil” - 27.5″ x 35″, “Seduced” - 35″ x 27.5″