Margaret Roach Wheeler facts for kids

Margaret Roach Wheeler (born 1943) is a talented Chickasaw and Choctaw artist. She is famous for her weaving and Native American fashion designs. Margaret is known for researching old Native American designs and weaving methods. She then uses these ideas in her beautiful clothing.

Her work has been shown in many important places, like the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. She has also been a visiting artist and researcher there. In 2010, she joined the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame. In 2018, she received the Governor's Arts Award from Oklahoma for her amazing art. Margaret also started her own company, Mahota Textiles.

Early Life and Education

Margaret Roach was born in 1943 in South Dakota. Her mother, Rubey, was Chickasaw, and her father, Diamond, was Choctaw. Margaret's great-great-grandmother, Nancy Mahota, walked the Trail of Tears. This was a difficult journey from her home in Mississippi to Oklahoma.

Margaret's father worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) as a teacher. Because of his job, her family moved a lot. They lived in many different states, like North Carolina, Arizona, and Montana. Margaret enjoyed learning about the cultures of the different tribes they met. She loved painting from a young age. She also watched her mother and grandmother create things with fibers, like knitting and sewing.

High School and College Years

When Margaret was in high school, her family lived in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. After finishing school, she married Glen Wheeler in 1960. They had two children, Kristine and Wade. Like her father, Glen became a teacher for the BIA. The family first lived on the Navajo Nation. Then they moved to Joplin, Missouri.

Margaret stayed home to raise her children for a while. But she decided to go to college to become a teacher. She wanted to teach sculpture. She studied at Missouri Southern State College in Joplin. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1975.

Becoming a Teacher

After college, Margaret started her teaching career. From 1975 to 1984, she taught at Parkwood High School. She taught many art subjects, including batik, jewelry design, and weaving.

While teaching, she also worked on her master's degree. She studied fiber arts at Pittsburg State University. She earned her master's degree in 1978. Her professor, Marjorie Schick, inspired her to use textiles in new ways. Margaret started making large wall art with fabrics. Later, this led her to design fashion. She even wove her own dress for an art show. Soon, she was weaving clothes with Native American designs. These clothes often looked like buckskin or fabric with beadwork.

Art and Fashion Career

In 1981, Margaret decided to start her own business. She called it Mahota Handwovens. She named it after her great-great-grandmother, Nancy Mahota. Even though some experts thought her business might not succeed, she followed her dream.

She researched museums that supported Indigenous art. The Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa asked her to create 20 garments for a fashion show. Margaret uses her art training and weaving skills to make clothes that are "an expressive cultural art form." She sees clothing as wearable art. She believes the body is like a canvas for art.

Research and Unique Designs

Margaret's childhood among many Indigenous groups influenced her art. Her woven pieces often combine designs and patterns from different Native cultures. She loves history and studies old weaving methods. She looks at museum collections and archaeological finds. She wants to discover how people made textiles before and after Europeans arrived.

She explores different materials like hides, feathers, and beadwork. She adds these to her woven fabrics. She uses natural fibers to create her designs. Instead of real beads or feathers, she weaves fibers to look like them. Her amazing skills have won many awards. She received a Smithsonian Fellowship in 2000. During this time, she was a visiting artist at the National Museum of the American Indian.

Margaret has also taught at Southwest Missouri State University. She gives talks at universities about textile arts. In 2009, she designed costumes for a show called Lowak Shoppala (Fire and Light). This show celebrated Chickasaw culture with music, poetry, and dance. Margaret has shown her art around the world. She also teaches weaving workshops across the United States and in England.

Exhibitions and Shows

Margaret Wheeler's work has been featured in many important exhibitions. In 1985, she showed her pieces for the Gilcrease Museum. She also participated in the Red Earth Festival fashion show in 1986 and 1987.

In 1986, her work was part of the Talking Threads: Contemporary Native American Fashions exhibition. This show was held at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe. In 1988, she was the only Native American artist chosen for the Handweavers Guild of America international fashion show, Convergence. She continued to participate in this event and also began showing her work at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Margaret's art has been displayed in group exhibitions at several major museums. These include the Heard Museum, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and the National Museum of the American Indian. She was also one of four Native American fashion designers chosen to speak about textile arts during the Native Fashion Now exhibition in New York.

Awards and Honors

Margaret Roach Wheeler has received many awards and honors for her contributions to art.

• In 2009, she won Best of Class in weaving and textiles at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market.
• She won first place in the 3-D division at the Southeastern Art Show and Market (SEASAM) in 2008 and 2010. This competition is hosted by the Chickasaw Nation.
• In 2010, she was inducted into the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame.
• In 2018, she received a Governor's Arts Award from the State of Oklahoma. This award recognized her unique contributions to the arts.
• In 2020, she was honored with the Chickasaw Nation Dynamic Woman of the Year award. This award celebrates Chickasaw women who have achieved great things and helped preserve Chickasaw culture.