November Spirit

Contact:
Appalachian Spirit Gallery
276-759-3890

Opening Date:
November 11, 2011

Marion Alive After 5 Second Friday ArtWalks at the Appalachian Spirit Gallery

Marion, VA—

November Spirit feels like a good way to focus on exhibiting at Appalachian Spirit Gallery. Read Emily Dickinson and join in the season of calm and celebration. My work is varied and friendly …maybe a “trinket” in comparison to the wonder of the seasons we are privileged to know in Southwest Virginia. Variety includes art work to wear, to share, to adorn a table, a wall and more. I enjoy design and work with techniques of silk screening, quilting, and appliqué unique to each piece using quality textiles.

"The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.
The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on."
- Emily Dickinson

"There is music in the meadows, in the air --
Autumn is here;
Skies are gray, but hearts are mellow,
Leaves are crimson, brown, and yellow;
Pines are soughing, birches stir,
And the Gipsy trail is fresh beneath the fir.

There is rhythm in the woods, and in the fields,
Nature yields:
And the harvest voices crying,
Blend with Autumn zephyrs sighing;
Tone and color, frost and fire,
Wings the nocturne Nature plays upon her lyre."
- William Stanley Braithwaite, Lyric of Autumn

As a child, Margaret liked to decorate. In the 1950’s, as a Glenmary Sister, she started to create designs and liturgical banners. This led to the opportunity to study art at Mt. St. Joseph College near Cincinnati, Ohio. Afterwards, she continued to design, decorate, and create both two and three dimensional structures. Over the years, Margaret worked in theatre, film and video, painting, silk screen printing, sculpture, textile constructions, mixed media, installations, layout and design. All of these experiences influence each other and opened up new areas of exploration. Sculpture, silk screen, and textile construction influenced her theatre projects, layout and design influenced her film and video work. Margaret is well in tune with her surroundings and continues to fuel her passion for creating her works through conversation (in and outside herself), listening, and surprises. She is continually learning through interaction with all the people and energies around her.

Living in Appalachia as well as in Lithuania, from which her ancestors migrated, has opened Margaret to cultural realities remarkably different from her Chicago childhood. Appalachia taught her to quilt and to collaborate. Lithuania let her engage with her family roots, and also with politically aware art students at a time of revolution. As an artist engaged in many expressive projects and processes over the years, Margaret now finds that "aging gives me new challenges and choices. I want to focus on the spiraling pilgrimage of my own art life within communities. These shared journeys warrant exploration, experimentation — and, most of all, celebration!”