Shelter Island Artist Margaret Garret Discovers Art Through Movement

“When I’m creating new works, I tend to have an idea — a jumping off point — to start and then I play and explore,” said Margaret Garrett in speaking about her art in a recent interview. “At some point, when I sense that the piece is working, I try to let the painting lead the way. One painting will sometimes suggest the next, and it will have similar restrictions. Often, the initial piece will become the catalyst for a series in which I can explore a similar idea from piece to piece.”

Garrett, who lives and works on Shelter Island, recently put forth her newest work in “The Still Point,” a solo show — her second — at Planthouse Gallery in New York City. Many of the paintings in the exhibition, which closed January 13, began from an abstract drawing that evoked a feeling of movement on the canvas.

Movement is a key component of all of Garrett’s artwork, and there’s good reason for that. Garrett, who was born in North Carolina and raised in Pennsylvania, began her creative career, not as an artist, but rather as a trained dancer who went on to dance with the Pennsylvania and Cleveland Ballet companies. Upon discovering in her early twenties that painting was spiritually akin to dance in terms of movement of line and color, she switched her artistic practice to visual art instead. The works that were featured in the Planthouse Gallery show, all of which were created in 2023, built on her exploration of translating movement and music into two-dimensional abstract compositions.

“When I begin working on a new piece, I see the paper or canvas as an empty stage and the line as movement,” explained Garrett in an artist statement. “Texture, form, the way that colors interact are all different manifestations of motion and energy.”

Working across mediums in painting, printing, collage and video, Garrett’s paintings and works on paper resemble dance scores, as she uses rounded lines, and both vibrant and muted colors. One of the larger paintings from her recent show, “Deep Blue Mantra,” invites viewers to loosen their limbs and flop their necks around. Measuring five-and-a-half feet by four-and-a-quarter feet, these pieces are large and as a result, the eye is transported into a dimension where lines bend, composition is abstracted and color is rich.

“All of the Mantra pieces have a maze-like drawing that reminds me of patterns I sometimes see when I meditate and they feel like they could emit a kind of sound,” Garrett explained. “This group of works on paper then led back to a few of the paintings in the exhibit including the large painting ‘Deep Blue Mantra.’”

“Etude #3,” one of Garrett’s works on paper, uses lines, color and texture effortlessly, creating an abstraction of bodies paused in motion. Its background, a rosy magenta with orange layers poking through, creates a contrast to her bright blue gestures, which can read as a choreography score.

When asked to expound about her use of color and her studio location on Shelter Island, Garrett shared her gratitude for being able to work on the East End.

“My studio is on the water on Shelter Island, and I constantly see the movement of light on the water and the sea grass moving in the wind,” she said. “I think these daily observations somehow make their way into my work.”

Garrett also added that, like nature, she has a tendency to switch color palettes according to the season — in summer, “yellows and pinks creep in more frequently,” and in winter it’s “more gray palette pieces.”

Because of her background as a dancer, Garrett has incorporated movement into her art in other ways as well. In 2017, she began filming herself dancing, using the video clips to create moving collages. For her show titled “19,” which was presented at Planthouse Gallery in fall 2020, she produced a video, two groups of collages, and a suite of seven woodblock and chine collé prints that were inspired by 19 poses chosen from Martha Graham dances by the Graham company in order to honor the centennial of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote.

In her 2023 painting “Etude #2,” Garrett’s use of stroke and color are intertwined and performative. While they remain still and frozen in time, an image is captured showing the body’s gestures and limitations. The backgrounds of Garrett’s “Etude” are not flat, but layered with colors, creating shadows and dimension. Her intelligently constructed abstractions are melodic and sharp. Diverse with color, tense with movement, yet immobile, Garrett’s use of lines are witty and brilliant; they resist one another, yet still remain in conversation.

As far as what 2024 has in store for this East End artist, Garrett notes that she’s just completed her first public work — two large glass murals, completed at a workshop in Germany. This public work will be unveiled later this winter. In addition, Garrett will also be included in the upcoming exhibition, “Beyond the Horizon: Interpretations of the Landscape From Women in the Permanent Collection” at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, alongside more than 20 other East End artists, including Darlene Charneco, April Gornik, Laurie Lambrecht, and the late artists Jane Wilson and Elaine de Kooning, among others.

That show will run February 18 to June 16 at the Parrish, 279 Montauk Highway, Water Mill. For more information, visit parrishart.org.