Margaret Kilgallen

Biography

Margaret Kilgallen was born in 1967 in Washington, DC, and received her BA in printmaking from Colorado College in 1989. Early experiences as a librarian and bookbinder contributed to her encyclopedic knowledge American folk tradition, printmaking, letterpress, signage, freight train vandal art, and decorative arts. Kilgallen had a love of “things that show the evidence of the human hand.” Kilgallen’s works recall a time when personal craft and handmade signs were the dominant aesthetic. Strong, independent women, walking, surfing, fighting, and biking, are also featured prominently in the artist’s compositions. This clip was cut from footage from the opening of Margaret’s retrospective “In The Sweet Bye and Bye” at REDCAT in Los Angeles on June 16, 2005. The music is from Tommy Guerrero’s live performance the same night.