SAQA Featured Artist: Margaret Anderson

Margaret Anderson – Sedona, Arizona, USA

Artist Statement

Though I began art study in 1967 it was in the 90’s that I began using silk and cotton rather than canvas as a surface for painting. My ideas and techniques have evolved to my current contemporary wall hangings which include acrylic paint on silk and cotton, collage and hand stitching. I approach my abstract designs intuitively and with a sense of adventure and enjoy not knowing how a design will develop until it reveals itself as I position shapes and colors and utilize the chance emergence of unplanned relationships. As I spontaneously build multiple layers of fabric, my ideas become increasingly defined until the final design emerges.

Interview

SAQA: You began creating with fabric in the 1990s; what medium did you work in before?

ANDERSON: I discovered the art quilt movement in about 1995. Previous to that time I had worked in watercolor, oil, and acrylic painting.

SAQA: What inspires you?

ANDERSON: Abstract shapes and colors found through a life-long study of nature inspire my work.

SAQA: Have any artists or art movements influenced your work?

ANDERSON: I am particularly attracted to abstract expressionist art.

SAQA: Where do you create?

ANDERSON: I paint the fabric in my garage where I can make a mess then design and assemble the work in my studio which is a former bedroom in my home.

SAQA: How do you reconcile the art-making and business sides of your creative life?

ANDERSON: Maybe because I am an introverted person, I find the process very difficult.

SAQA: What are you working on now? What’s next?

ANDERSON: Currently I am experimenting with changing parts of my process to allow more time for the painting and design phases of my work and requiring less for the assembly phase.

Visit Margaret Anderson’s website to see more of her work.