Spotlight On Artists: Margaret Garrett

Shelter Island is home to more than 40 painters, sculptors and photographers, according to a recent informal and by no means comprehensive tally by the Reporter staff. Some names will be well known to Islanders, others less so, but we decided to introduce them all to Reporter readers. This week we feature Margaret Garrett.

Can the public view your work at any particular location?

Yes, at Danese,* a wonderful gallery in New York City at 535 West 24th Street,  (danese.com); locally at Ruby Beets, 25 Washington Street, in Sag Harbor (rubybeets.com); at my website, margaretgarrett.com; and also by appointment at my studio on Shelter Island.

Do you specialize in one specific type of art?

I make abstract paintings and works on paper.

What is your preferred medium?

I like working with oils on linen and using acrylics and ink on paper.

Where is the most interesting place you’ve seen your art displayed?

I made a set for a ballet once and it was basically a very, very large abstract painting. To work on it, the canvas was laid out on a floor that was half the size of a basketball court and I had to get it done in about a week, spending a lot of that time on my hands and knees, swimming in paint! It was so interesting to then see it on the stage, with lighting enhancing it, and seeing how it changed with the lighting.

Where would you most like to see it?

I love the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and would be thrilled to see my work there one day. I hope their curators read the Reporter.

What inspires your art?

I’m inspired by so many things: light, color, movement, energy, the process of making a painting and getting absorbed by it.

Why be an artist on Shelter Island?

I like working on Shelter Island because of the space I feel that I have mentally working in such a beautiful, peaceful place.

What is your biggest challenge as an artist?

My biggest challenge is the business side of being an artist, making that work.

What is your greatest joy as an artist?

The greatest joy is when one of my paintings really speaks to someone, they “get it” and I feel like that’s a different level of communication and why I make the paintings in the first place.

Who is your favorite artist?

Very hard for me to say one — I get influenced by different people all the time. Right now I’d have to say Brice Marden, Cy Twombly, Mark Tobey, Bill Jensen and Joan Mitchell.

* Ms. Garrett’s work is currently in the gallery’s exhibit, “Works on Paper,” and will be up through February 5.