Meet Margo

Hello! I am an artist and craftsman who loves creating quality work by hand. I was raised in Bozeman, Montana, where the mountains made me feel at home and am now living in Portland, Oregon, where the Willamette river brings me grounding and joy. I use they / them pronouns.

In my free time, I love reading, working on personal sewing projects, diving headlong into new crafts, and spending time outside (especially near the Willamette River).

My interest in fine arts stems from my mother who is an art teacher and who provided me with materials and instructions for any project I wanted to take on as a child. My father, an avid photographer who grew up with a darkroom in his basement, gave me my first crude digital camera at 9 years old spurring my love for the medium. I am most drawn to photography but also dabble in digital drawing, sculpture, bookmaking, sketching, and watercolor. I have found that my most impactful art projects have revolved around trying to understand something I cannot fully grasp, emotionally or otherwise. Much of my work follows environmental Eco Art themes and approaches because I am fascinated by how art can help us understand the complex nuances of our world, and the complex problems I am most drawn to are environmental. During my BA in Environmental Studies and focus in Art at Lewis & Clark College, I explored facets of the environmental and artistic worlds, each of which helped me understand the other better. I created my undergrad thesis work around these themes and situated the work at Ross Island in the Willamette River which runs through Portland.

My First Handmade Halloween Costume, made by my mother

Incidentally matching my photography as I print it

Growing up, I also was always interested in clothing, especially during halloween season and at other opportunities for dressing up. My mother helped me sew aspects of my costumes from a young age and encouraged me as I became more interested in sewing as I grew up. Working at my college’s outdoor program warehouse, I took on the role of assessing what gear needed to be retired from use and what could be repaired. I found a great love in repairing gear as it melded my interests in sewing, sustainability, and creative problem solving. Through this work, I became interested in how materials change over time and with use which led me to experiment with leather. I started working with leather I found in a scrap bin at SCRAP PDX (if you haven’t heard of them, check them out!) creating bracelets and necklaces from images online. During a recent family trip to France, I got the special opportunity to learn at two leather “Atelier” workshops where I learned the basics of construction and fabrication within two disciplines of French leather working. The time spent in the workshops and working on my projects outside of class was a dream. I loved learning about the material and types of tanning, pattern-making, construction, finishing, and care of leather.

If you are interesting in booking a sewing / patterning consultation, repairing some old gear, learning more about or engaging with my work, I would love to hear from you!