margot mcmahon

Mediums Used

Interpretations of human, plant and animal forms define the sculptures and drawings of Margot McMahon. She has been called the “Studs Terkel of the sculpting world”, by Chicago Sculpture Exhibit for her sculptural interpretations of everyday heroes in The Chicago History Museum exhibit, Just Plain Hardworking. The exhibit of Chicagoans, who have made a difference, is collected by DePaul University and the subject of a WTTW documentary. This exhibition explores one generation who created the multicultural fabric of Chicago and led to her sculpting What are you doing for Justice?, a 12 foot high sculpture of John Egan as a community organizer, installed at the Student Center of DePaul University. Peace and Justice was later commissiioned by Sokka Gaikai of Japan for Lincoln Park’s Peace Garden. Recently Margot installed Gwendolyn Brooks monument in Chicago with a publishing wall for exhibiting young poets writing.
Margot McMahon`s forms speak to us of both the endurance
and the fragile nature of the human spirit.
Interpretations of human, plant and animal
forms define the sculptures and drawings of Margot McMahon. She has been called the “Studs Terkel of the sculpting world”, by Chicago Sculpture Exhibit for her sculptural interpretations of everyday heroes in The Chicago History Museum exhibit, Just Plain Hardworking. The exhibit of Chicagoans, who have made a difference, is collected by DePaul University and the subject of a WTTW documentary. This exhibition explores one generation who created the multicultural fabric of Chicago and led to her sculpting What are you doing for Justice?, a 12 foot high sculpture of John Egan as a community organizer, installed at the Student Center of DePaul University. Peace and Justice was later commissiioned by Sokka Gaikai of Japan for Lincoln Park’s Peace Garden. Recently Margot installed Gwendolyn Brooks monument in Chicago with a publishing wall for exhibiting young poets writing.
Her collaborative exhibition, Sustaining the Land interprets and applauds three families who have sustained Chicagoland’s nature—prairie, farmland and Lake Michigan—over generations. Ecosystem No. 1 is a sculpture-ecosystem that invites viewers to contribute water to a solar-powered pump and wind propelled vane that distributes the water onto a sedum garden. It takes the collaboration of humans, the sun, and wind for the garden to thrive. She has sculpted for the Chicago Tree Project with Flock in Jackson Park, Checkmate, in Lincoln Park and Perch Preen in Hale Park to bring attention to the hundred and twenty thousand trees dying in Chicago’s Parks.
Her video on the Chicago Tree Project has been shown internationally.
Margot’s drawings and sculptures can be
seen in New York City, Washington D.C., Sante Fe, North Palm Beach, Sarasota, Cincinnati, Guernsey, U.K., Tokyo, Lake Forest, Oak Park and Chicago. Her art has been collected in Japan and throughout the United States and Europe and is in the collections of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John D. MacArthur State Park, the Museum of Contemporary
Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Chicago History Museum, the Chicago Botanic Garden, Yale University and Soka Gakkai International.
Margot has published her book, The Gift of Art, Sculpture Ventures for Young Artists [Yale University P&P] with the Yale Center for British Art. The Fifth Season: The Chicago Tree Project Book [Lambert Publishing 2019} has photographic and written essays about the importance of
Margot serves as Trustee of the Board of Yale Women Chicago, Yale Chicago, and Ragdale Foundation Board. She is a founding member of the Village of Oak Park Public Art Advisory Commission, Ragdale Foundation’s Cornerstone Fund and Yale Alumni Art League. Margot serves as a Delegate-at-Large for Yale University Alumni.
Sculptures by margot mcmahon
Credentials
Qualifications
1984 Yale University, Master of Fine Arts Degree, Fellow-Timothy Dwight College
1979 Hamline University, Bachelor of Fine Arts with Academic Honors.,1984 Yale University, Master of Fine Arts Degree, Fellow-Timothy Dwight College
1979 Hamline University, Bachelor of Fine Arts with Academic Honors.Exhibitions
yes
Awards
2020 Mate E. Palmer First Place Book Award (IWPA) The Fifth Season (Amazon)
2019 Mate E. Palmer First Place Service Award: The Chicago Tree Project
2016,17,18,19 Ragdale Foundation Residency Lake Forest, Illinois
2010 Peace and Culture Award, Soka Gakkai International, Tokyo, Japan
2000 Rose Philippine Duchesne Society Annual Award, Barat College, Lake Forest, Illinois
1995 and 2000 Ragdale Foundation, Illinois
1991 Alex B. Hexter Award - National Sculpture Society, New York, New York
1989 Retirement Research Foundation Grant, Chicago, Illinois
1982-84 Yale University Scholarship, New Haven, Connecticut
1983 Yale Summer School of Art Teacher, Norfolk, Connecticut
1979 Aliza A. Drew Fine Arts Award, Hamline University, Saint Paul, Minnesota.Publications
2020 If Trees Could Talk, Parachuting Artists, RESIST! A Visual History of Protest, Aquarius Press
2019 The Fifth Season: The Chicago Tree Project book, Lambert Publishing, Contemporary Sculptors of Chicago (Amazon)
Remembering 50,50WAY150 website
2018 Gwendolyn Brooks Park Monument Chicago Tribune June 7
Sun Times June 8, The Defender WTTW, Channel 7
Leonardo Journal, MIT Press authored “Transforming Nature”
2016 Chicago Tribune, July 7 CBS-2 news 11/11/14
The Gift of Art:Sculpture Ventures for Young Artists (book), Yale Print and Publishing 2012-13 Chicago Sculpture International Outdoor exhibition catalog
2012-13 Chicago Sculpture International Outdoor exhibition catalog
2010 World Tribune, Peace and Culture Award, Tokyo Japan
2006 Wednesday Journal, Jan 4th, "Julian students cuddle up to an art project"
Chicago Journal, January 19, "Beatifying in bronze"
2005 Oak Leaves, October 19th, "Julian Students create atrium art"
1999-11 Who`s Who of American Women
2004 Wednesday Journal, March 31, "The Good Priest"
The Catholic New World, March 28 "DePaul Sculpture recalls Msgr. Egan"
Chicago Tribune, February 19, Standing Tall for Social Justice in City
2003 Chicago Sun Times May 12 "Oak Park Artist erecting monument to a giant of a man"
2000 Wednesday Journal Dec. 6 "The Portrait of The Artist"
1999-04 Who`s Who of American Women
1998 The New World Jan 30 "Growing in Faith"
1995 Chicago Sun Times, Page 12, February 16 Egan Center Honors a Legend, Chicago, IL
1990 The Star, July 8, 1990 Sculpting Formation, Homewood, Illinois
The Economist, Making Father and Child in Homewood, Illinois
Palm Beach Daily News, March 25, Unveiling John D.. MacArthur, Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach Post, March 8, Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach Society, March 26, Palm Beach, Florida
New Art Examiner, March, Chicago, Illinois
1989 Sculpture International Just Plain Hardworking, Washington D.C.
Chicago Tribune, July 26, Tempo, The Chicago Ten, Chicago, Illinois
North Shore Magazine, July, Wilmette, Illinois
The Reader, Artists and Residents, June 23 Calendar, Chicago, Illinois
1989 Highland Park News, May Fables of Our Time, Highland Park, Illinois
1988 Chicago Sun Times, Festival at Navy Pier May 27, Chicago, Illinois
1987 The Reader, Neighborhood News, These Hands Have Done Alot, September, Chicago, IL
North Shore Magazine, One Magnificent Square Mile August, Wilmette, Illinois
Chicago Tribune, The Hands of Highwood, June 19, Chicago, Illinois
Highland Park News, Art to Keep Legacy Alive April, Highland Park, Illinois
Fra Noi, Exhibit Displays...Immigrant May, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Tribune, Portrait Artist February Tempo, Chicago, Illinois
North Shore Magazine, Portrait Artist March, Wilmette, Illinois
1985 News Voice, Eight Artists... August, Lake Forest, Illinois
New Art Examiner, April, Chicago, Illinois
1982 Lake Forester, Library Sculpture November, Lake Forest, Illinois
Winnetka News, Library Sculpture in Memory October, Winnetka, Illinois
1981-89 World Book Encyclopedia, Clay, Chicago, Illinois.,2020 If Trees Could Talk, Parachuting Artists, RESIST! A Visual History of Protest, Aquarius Press
2019 The Fifth Season: The Chicago Tree Project book, Lambert Publishing, Contemporary Sculptors of Chicago (Amazon)
Remembering 50,50WAY150 website
2018 Gwendolyn Brooks Park Monument Chicago Tribune June 7
Sun Times June 8, The Defender WTTW, Channel 7
Leonardo Journal, MIT Press authored “Transforming Nature”
2016 Chicago Tribune, July 7 CBS-2 news 11/11/14
The Gift of Art:Sculpture Ventures for Young Artists (book), Yale Print and Publishing 2012-13 Chicago Sculpture International Outdoor exhibition catalog
2012-13 Chicago Sculpture International Outdoor exhibition catalog
2010 World Tribune, Peace and Culture Award, Tokyo Japan
2006 Wednesday Journal, Jan 4th, "Julian students cuddle up to an art project"
Chicago Journal, January 19, "Beatifying in bronze"
2005 Oak Leaves, October 19th, "Julian Students create atrium art"
1999-11 Who`s Who of American Women
2004 Wednesday Journal, March 31, "The Good Priest"
The Catholic New World, March 28 "DePaul Sculpture recalls Msgr. Egan"
Chicago Tribune, February 19, Standing Tall for Social Justice in City
2003 Chicago Sun Times May 12 "Oak Park Artist erecting monument to a giant of a man"
2000 Wednesday Journal Dec. 6 "The Portrait of The Artist"
1999-04 Who`s Who of American Women
1998 The New World Jan 30 "Growing in Faith"
1995 Chicago Sun Times, Page 12, February 16 Egan Center Honors a Legend, Chicago, IL
1990 The Star, July 8, 1990 Sculpting Formation, Homewood, Illinois
The Economist, Making Father and Child in Homewood, Illinois
Palm Beach Daily News, March 25, Unveiling John D.. MacArthur, Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach Post, March 8, Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach Society, March 26, Palm Beach, Florida
New Art Examiner, March, Chicago, Illinois
1989 Sculpture International Just Plain Hardworking, Washington D.C.
Chicago Tribune, July 26, Tempo, The Chicago Ten, Chicago, Illinois
North Shore Magazine, July, Wilmette, Illinois
The Reader, Artists and Residents, June 23 Calendar, Chicago, Illinois
1989 Highland Park News, May Fables of Our Time, Highland Park, Illinois
1988 Chicago Sun Times, Festival at Navy Pier May 27, Chicago, Illinois
1987 The Reader, Neighborhood News, These Hands Have Done Alot, September, Chicago, IL
North Shore Magazine, One Magnificent Square Mile August, Wilmette, Illinois
Chicago Tribune, The Hands of Highwood, June 19, Chicago, Illinois
Highland Park News, Art to Keep Legacy Alive April, Highland Park, Illinois
Fra Noi, Exhibit Displays...Immigrant May, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Tribune, Portrait Artist February Tempo, Chicago, Illinois
North Shore Magazine, Portrait Artist March, Wilmette, Illinois
1985 News Voice, Eight Artists... August, Lake Forest, Illinois
New Art Examiner, April, Chicago, Illinois
1982 Lake Forester, Library Sculpture November, Lake Forest, Illinois
Winnetka News, Library Sculpture in Memory October, Winnetka, Illinois
1981-89 World Book Encyclopedia, Clay, Chicago, Illinois.
Art Experience
2017-20 Board Member: Chicago Sculpture International, Yale Chicago, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, Ragdale Foundation, President: Yale Women Chicago, Chicago, Chicago Literary Club, committee
2015-16 President: Yale Women Chicago, Vice President: Chicago Sculpture International, Yale Chicago
2013-14 Board Member, Chicago Sculpture International
Board Member Yale Women/Chicago 2012
Committee Member Chicago Sculpture International Outdoor Committee
2002-2006 Commissioner: Village of Oak Park, Public Art Advisory Commission
2000-03 Committee member: National Museum of Women in the Arts, IL Committee
1998-2006 Board of Directors Member, Oak Park Area Arts Council, Oak Park, Illinois
1998-Present Ragdale Foundation, Cornerstone Scholarship Committee, Lake Forest, Illinois
2002-2004 Commissioner: Village of Oak Park, IL Committee
1999-2004 Board of Directors Member, Illinois
1998 Lecturer, DePaul University, Illinois
1986-1989 Sculpture Faculty, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
1982-1984 Teaching Assistant, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut
1978 Sculpture Assistant, Hamline University, St. Paul Minnesota.
Abbott Pattison
Michael Price
Sylvia Judson
Eldon Danhausen
Franklin McMahon
Erwin Hauer
Nina Levy.
1990 New Art Examiner, March, Chicago, Illinois
1989 Sculpture International Just Plain Hardworking, Washington D.C.
Chicago Tribune, July 26, Tempo, The Chicago Ten, Illinois
1985New Art Examiner, April, Illinois.
Permanent Installations
Peace and Justice, Peace Park of Lincoln Park and Soka Gakkai International both in Chicago, Illinois
Cuddling Intelligences, Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park, Illinois
Fr. John Egan, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois
Holy Family, Offering, Celtic Cross, Stations of the Cross, Baptismal Font, Painted mural, stain glass Ambry, Tabernacle, St. Patrick Church, Lake Forest, Illinois
John D. MacArthur John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago and John D. MacArthur State Park, North Palm Beach Florida
Just Plain Hardworking John Egan Urban Center, Illinois
Hope, Peace and Wonder, William Beye School, Illinois
Arriba One Northfield Plaza, Northfield Illinois
Dance Lake Bluff, Illinois
Mother and Child St. Mary`s School, Illinois
Lois and Baby Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Steans, Englewood, Florida
Formation Robert Irwin Park, Homewood, Illinois
Fables of Our Time Highwood Public Library, Illinois
Arise Saint Francis Retreat Center Oak brook, Illinois
Boy Gardener Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe Illinois
The Reader Northfield Public Library, Northfield, Illinois.
