Margaux McAllister
From exhibiting in a group show at Paradigm Gallery + Studio this September to launching an art magazine, Phoenixville-based artist Margaux McAllister has been very busy in the studio. Read the interview to learn all about what she’s creating.
What is the theme of the show at Paradigm?
The title of the Paradigm show is Tending to Clouds. This show centers on fiber works at its core and brings together three artists who work in various fiber materials: Catalina Escallón Rosselli, Richie Wilde López, and myself. The curator Jessica Aguilar writes, “Fiber is an inherently relational medium, as we all have reference points for textiles in the home: blankets, kitchen towels, upholstery; all the softer places against the hard doors and walls. In the fog of our busy lives, these artists have found meditation and convalescence through fiberwork. As they encourage the material into new form, they demonstrate the impact of slow and meaningful craft in this contemporary landscape.” In my art, I take the medium of rug tufting and create masks and wall pieces that challenge the traditional use of that material, reimagining what that material can become. Embroidery and beadwork extend that investigation, while painting introduces another vocabulary for transforming surface, color, and form. All of these forms create a slow pace that allows for a thorough investigation into transformation to occur. The exhibition isn't only about fiber as a material; it is about slowness, transformation, meditation, and the relationship between the hand and the material. Clouds cannot be grasped or completely controlled, but they can be observed, interpreted, and given form through art. This show centers the act of tending as an artistic practice.
What piece are you most excited for people to experience in person at Paradigm?
One piece that stands out that I will be showing at Paradigm is titled Tethered Dreamers. It is a visual representation of shared seeing. What I mean by that is, when we choose to see the world through another’s eyes, we can understand something in a new way. The piece is made of tufted yarn and glass seed beads. Two sets of eyes are connected through lines of beads that represent a shared experience. The shimmering effect the beads have creates movement between the two pairs of eyes. I find this piece to be both still and in motion. The eyes are fixed and contemplative, while the beaded lines create a visual vibration between them. That physical relationship becomes a metaphor for shared seeing: perspective isn't necessarily something we possess individually, but something that can shift when we become connected to another person's experience.
This piece is a reminder to slow down and consider another’s perspective, experience, and history to transform our own point of view. The slow labor involved in tufting and beadwork also asks the viewer to encounter the work slowly—the same kind of attentiveness the work asks of us conceptually.
Tethered Dreamers | Margaux McAllister
What other new projects are you working on?
I am working on an installation entitled Inside The Bell Jar for the Phoenixville Art Walk in October. Dema will host me in their studio, and I am excited to show my work in their beautiful space. I will present a small body of work exploring ideas on grief, healing, transformation, and regeneration for this installation. I have taken watercolor sketches I made after a recent trip and translated them into oil paintings and tufted wall pieces. I am excited to see these pieces presented together as one installation.
I am also in the process of launching a new art magazine called Marigold Art Magazine. This is a print publication centered around the significance of nature in art. I envision it as a place to examine the relationship between nature, the artist, and the creative process. I aspire for the magazine to be a space for dialogue on how the natural world inspires artistic expression, provides a language through which we understand our experience, and is continually reinterpreted through art.
I am an artist and an avid gardener, and I see many parallels between my art practice and my gardening practice. Plants, flowers, and gardens are often used by artists for inspiration, expressions of beauty and deep meaning, as well as for making pigments and raw materials for their art. One interesting parallel is that both gardening and art require making space for emergence. You begin with an intention, but the final result is never completely predictable. A gardener plants a seed without knowing precisely what form the plant will ultimately take; an artist begins with an idea but discovers the work through its making. I wanted to start this magazine because I am curious about how my connection to nature impacts my art practice and to quench my thirst for the printed form. I love artist books, and I have dreamed of creating a magazine to share ideas and find freedom in collaboration. I see this magazine as an ongoing collaborative art piece, and I want to discover new art (artists) and share it with a wider audience. Marigold Art Magazine is about transformation—how artists transform materials and how our encounters with nature transform the way we see and make things. I hope Marigold will be a place that brings art and people together in a thoughtfully curated way; a way that ignites inspiration and fuels ideas about how we relate to the natural world. A publication that is cultivating questions, like a garden, and each issue can create the conditions for unexpected things to grow.
Who can apply to Marigold Magazine, and what type of work are you looking for?
For the inaugural issue, I am looking for artworks related to the theme, The Floral. Artists are welcome to submit works that have a visual or symbolic connection to blossoming plants. How does one utilize flowers in art? What is the relationship between the art, artist, and The Floral? Artists from around the world working in all visual art mediums are invited to apply. The mediums accepted are painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, fibers, digital, and installation art; however, no AI. The deadline to apply is October 12th.
