The Work of Women by Allison Meier
Margaret Kinkeade, Norman, Doily 2, Whiteware, 22” x 22” x 6”
For Margaret Kinkeade’s art and life, becoming a mother changed everything. “After having my daughter, I was forced to learn to use my time wisely and live more in the present, which haven’t always been my strong points,” she said. “My previous work focused on an idealized solitary future living in the soft hills of Oklahoma, and while it accurately depicted my domestic dream it did not represent my present.” This shift has resulted in a striking series of latticed whiteware ceramic bowls, delicately patterned, but skeletally strong, called The Doily Series. “Although I have always been interested in the work and crafts of women, it wasn’t until my daughter was born that I really began to think about the transmission of those skills from mother to daughter and trying to find a way to represent the exchange visually,” she said. “I also began questioning the perceived worth of these objects and why certain objects like quilts
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are passed down through the generations yet other objects like doilies are discarded or sold at estate sales for next to nothing.” The tight structures of the bowls, and the similarly close-knit doilies they interpret, are not only decorative objects, but also symbols to Kinkeade of the relationships between women. “These patterned domes honor the time in my life, and many other women’s lives, when the uncertainty of motherhood tied me to the women who surrounded me for support and guidance,” she said. “These long conversations, with women who were either expecting children or were mothers themselves, were full of both heavy and light moments and were accompanied by the task of learning to knit. We spent our evenings constructing warmth for children who we had yet to meet and talking through our anxieties and milestones.” She sees the doilies as objects of warmth and protection, in how they