Artist Profile

In the beginning, Margaret loved to make things from scratch. During her college years she used clay as a means of expression. Later her love of textiles began to consume her time and energies. She learned to spin and took up designing knit garments made from hand spun yarns. Sheep, angora goats and rabbits were once companions. She created Wooly Bully sweaters for toddlers and lace knit camisoles made from angora handspun. She preferred hand knitting but an experiment in machine knitting was intoxicating. It wasn’t too far removed from weaving, and allowed for speed. She made many garments by combining machine knitting with handspun yarns and hand knit embellishments.

Later, when she relocated to the city with her daughter, her home began to fill with old rug looms and rag found at local resale shops. Although new techniques and mediums swam through Margaret’s life, she would find time for meditative spinning and knitting. As weaving rugs became a source for income, she spent her quiet time rug hooking and knitting.

While living in the city, Margaret’s weaving career bloomed with the creation of Shaker Twisted Weft rag rugs and scrap rag rugs. Then marriage brought her back to the country, where she still lives. Now her weaving is restricted to creating rag rugs for sale to support her grandson’s college expenses. It’s a good excuse to sit and weave on her antique rug loom.

A studio in the turn of the century barn is an active workspace to salvage doors and other architectural remnants to paint on. Margaret began to express a creative side as yet unexplored in folk art painting. Using reclaimed materials is an important aspect of Margaret’s designing and painting. Both her research and knowledge of early American textiles lent their influence in her paintings. Combined with techniques once employed by early American craftsmen to decorate furniture and home interiors, Margaret’s unique look gradually emerged. Her love and appreciation for anything old and her commitment to recycling was a strong incentive to create folk art on “found materials.” The commercialism she saw in society caused Margaret to look deeply for beauty close to home. She believes it abounds all around in unexpected places. Margaret is a anitperfectionist, she believes in “make do” and “good enough.” This is the message in her salvaged pieces that show signs of their past use - chipped corners and old color. She believes in the creative spirit - just let it out, don’t judge harshly, believe in yourself, reflect and move forward.

Margaret and her family live on and work from their rural farm in Manchester, Michigan. She shares her life with husband Kerry Sandford, an engineer and recycling fabricator; teen daughter Myra, a super great kid; one goat; one big wooly ewe; one rabbit; one stray cat and 2 oggie doggies. Her oldest daughter Chelsea and amazing grandson Anthony (two last Halloween) both go to college and visit often.

These days, Margaret balances her folk art painting, journeying to shows and designing punch-needle embroidery patterns and rug hooking patterns. At times, she gets out and walks their 40 acres and sits among the trees. Once a month, if lucky, she shares “Stitches” with a creative group of supportive women friends. Life is good, and she thanks those whose interest allows her to “make do.”