Margaret R. Thompson

How did you get into making art?

When I was little my grandmother set up an art table by a window in her home near the Chesapeake bay where my parents would take me on the weekends. There was a small green chair for me to sit in, and white cards with flowers in the corners I could draw on. My imagination has always been big and constant, and as I child if I was given a pencil or a crayon, glue, glitter, anything, I’d make something with it. When I learned to write I’d journal in diaries and accompany words with fantastical drawings. I drew in all the margins in school, I painted when I was shown paints. My hands have always gravitated towards the tools to express myself, to channel imagination which feels free.

What are you currently working on?

I am painting a music box with a slow dance horse coming out of it, existing out on a faraway desert plain. On the box I have painted the beginning notes of Chopin’s Nocturne in C-sharp Minor. In the distance there is a large fire next to a house. The sky is huge, there are some mountains. The moon has fallen from the sky and is laid out on the earth. I am exploring nostalgia, old things, heirlooms that are passed down, and a modern ghost that threatens them. The quieting and slowing of time. Chopin’s song is also sometimes referred to as “Reminiscence.” What’s exciting to me is I started painting this in response to seeing “Gaspard de la nuit” by René Magritte. It made me feel something deep and I wanted to speak to that. Later I discovered the title of his painting is a famous piano suite by Maurice Ravel. When I saw his painting I knew mine had to be music, then later I learned he had done the same.

What inspired you to get started on this body of work?

I am inspired when my senses flare or make me go still. I respond to things that punch through or circumvent filtered consciousness. I am interested in truth, memory, and the origins of things. Some of it is very grounded in our reality, some is how my consciousness intuits mystery, life, death, space, deep time, and elemental forces.

Do you work on distinct projects or do you take a broader approach to your practice?

I take a broad approach unless I am given a project to dive into. Next year I will be creating a site specific installation of work in the ancient cistern of the Zeyrek Çinili Hamam in Istanbul, TR. For this project I am responding completely to the history of the space, and will be a listener, intuiting stories and honoring what I gather from my time there.

What’s a typical day like in your studio?

I wake up and write to clear my mind or talk to myself about my work most every day. I make coffee and enter the studio barefoot and in breathable clothing. I feel a sense of warmth, release, and fuzzing out take over when I work. I listen to music. I stay as long as I can. I do not like to push myself. Most of the work happens outside the studio.

Who are your favorite artists?

I grew up with Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, Ali Farka Touré, Rose Bushes, the Sun, Rainbows, Rocks, Birds, Lightning. Those are some of my favorites still. The painters I feel most kindred to in terms of values and curiosities are currently Remedios Varo, Agnes Pelton, Hilma af Klint, Leonora Carrington, and Ithell Colquhoun.

Where do you go to discover new artists?

Honestly, I’ve met some of the greatest artists I know online – social media and online residencies. There are artists around the world who have become close friends. Even though some of us have never met, we have phone calls, exchange letters, work on projects together, share virtual studio visits, give each other the love and support to keep going.