Margaret Hull

Margaret Hull is an artist working in textiles, performance, and installation. Based in Detroit, Michigan, Hull has an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art. She has been awarded residencies in Léhon, France, AZ West in Joshua Tree, California, Ox-Bow School of Art in Saugatuck, Michigan, Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine, the Icelandic Textile Center in Blönduós, Iceland, and TEXERE in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico. Her work has been exhibited at the New Orleans Museum of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, and The Sculpture Center, among other venues. She is Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator in the Fashion Design and Merchandising program at Wayne State University.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Through material, technical, and conceptual exploration of garment construction, my work prioritizes slow design and local systems of production. Slow design when applied to the creation of garments invites evaluation of the speed and means by which fashion is produced and the impact on human and environmental health. Siting the output of my creative research in fine arts spaces, I initiate conversation in response to existing value systems (Ex: fast fashion) in the fashion industry, which often disregard its environmental and social impacts.

The Zero Waste series is a body of work that includes a textile installation made of blouses, plant-dyed banners, drawings, a blouse pattern, instructions to sew the blouse. Often, when a garment is made, there is scrap fabric in between the pattern pieces that goes to waste. In this instance, the pattern used to make the blouses is zero waste because all the fabric within a 60 x 58 inch piece of yardage is used to make each shirt. This project deepens my relationship to the materials and techniques I use, reduces studio waste, and increases the public’s knowledge of zero waste fashion design. In my studio, I am currently researching other approaches to zero waste fashion design to promote new knowledge of a material’s lifespan; for example, using discarded plants as dye materials. Emphasis on geographic boundary, sourcing transparency, and direct relationships with people at all stages of garment production is known as a fibershed. Practicing within a fibershed supports my approach to slow design, particularly because it asserts the interdependence of people, products, and environment.

As a new mother, I have benefited from knowledge shared by friends and family about the experience of being pregnant and sustaining life. In addition to the immaterial support I continue to receive, I have gained access to the secondhand and circular economy of baby clothes. As my child grows from the newborn stage to subsequent milestones (0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc.), I am supplied with a wardrobe that I will pass on, continuing the cycle of reuse. Both the immaterial and material aspects of motherhood have been deeply inspiring for my creative practice, leading to a public performance, Mothering in Community and the Zero Waste Blouse, which reimagines postpartum and maternity-wear, beyond the notoriously dowdy, limited-use garments, further reinforcing the project’s sustainable goals.