Margaret Garrett, Improvisations, 2020
Acrylic on paper, cut and pasted
12 7/8 x 10 3/4 inches, 13 3/4 x 11 1/2 (Framed).

Planthouse is proud to present 19, a multi-disciplinary exhibition of works by Margaret Garrett in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment. The show includes video and painted collages inspired by 19 poses chosen from Martha Graham dances by the Graham company to honor the centennial of women’s right to vote. The exhibition features a suite of woodblock and chine colle prints, 19 Poses, made at Flatbed Press in Austin, Texas and published by Planthouse Gallery. The 19, an essay by artist April Gornik, accompanies the exhibition.

As a longtime admirer of Martha Graham, I was immediately captivated by the idea of working with these poses to make work in celebration of the 19th amendment. In creating these pieces, I felt like I was working with a very potent alphabet, an intimate language about dance, women and power. -Margaret Garrett

Born in North Carolina and raised in Pennsylvania, Margaret Garrett grew up training to be a dancer and went on to dance with the Pennsylvania and Cleveland Ballet Companies. In her early twenties, she discovered painting, finding something spiritually akin to dance in the movement of line and color, and switched her focus to visual art.

Garrett’s paintings, prints, and videos have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States including Danese/Corey, the Flag Art Foundation, Birnam Wood, and the Parrish Art Museum. Her work has also been included in the Armory Show, Art on Paper, Dallas Art Fair, and the Baltimore Museum Contemporary Print Fair. She has been awarded residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and in Assisi, Italy, and has collaborated on two projects with Flatbed Press in Austin, Texas. Garrett’s work is held in numerous private and corporate collections in the United States and Europe. Museum collections include the Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall Museum. She currently lives and maintains a studio on Shelter Island, NY.