Maggie Thompson

The multimedia works of Maggie Thompson (Ojibwe) expand various textile traditions’ inherited ways of being and becoming. Thompson skillfully and intuitively works with both natural and synthetic materials to address personal and universal experiences of loss, grief, and love. 

Selected for the 2023 Renwick Invitational at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Thompson has recently exhibited at the Plains Art Museum and Minnesota Textile Center. Her recent solo exhibitions include Just Friends at Bockley Gallery (2022) and Dakobijige / She Ties Things Together at the Watermark Center in Bemidji, Minnesota (2021). She has been awarded grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and her work is collected by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and the Minnesota Historical Society, among other public institutions.

Thompson holds a BFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design (2013). In addition to her art practice, she is a curator, and owns and operates Makwa Studio, a creative space and brand creating wearables that incorporate Native textile designs. Thompson is based in Minneapolis.

www.makwastudio.com

On Loving, 2022–23
vinyl, beads, thread, zippers
90 x 42 x 10 inches each
On Loving, 2022–23
vinyl, beads, thread, zippers
90 x 42 x 10 inches each
I Get Mad Because I Love You, 2021–23
breads, filament, jingles
48 x 72 x 1 inches
I Get Mad Because I Love You (detail), 2021–23
breads, filament, jingles
48 x 72 x 1 inches
Departure, 2023
photo paper, ribbon, acrylic rod
61 x 48 x 1 inches
Loves Me, Loves Me Not, 2023
feathers, pins, paper, concrete, vinyl, metallic thread
overall dimensions variable, each of 4
components approx. 9 x 5.5 x .5 inches
edition of 3 + 1 AP
Ghost of you, 2022
ink jet print on paper and nylon filament
approx. 75 x 44.5 inches
Breadcrumbing, 2022
bread crumbs, vinyl, metallic thread
61 x 75 x 2 inches
Quantum Entanglement, 2022
photo transfer on fabric, beads, and thread
approx. 41 x 58.5 x .75 inches
In Gratitude, 2022
photographic prints on archival vellum, woven
64 x 44 inches
Collection Hood Museum of Art
The Equivocator, 2021
rope, wire, stockings, thread, ribbon
3.5 x 5 feet
private collection
Swallow, 2019
fabric, plexiglass, paper, thread, LED lights
36 x 60 feet
Assumptions, 2013
metal beer caps, jump rings
36 x 60 inches
private collection
Family Portrait, 2013
Rayon, wool, dye
36 x 72 inches each piece
Collection Minneapolis Institute of Art