Margaret Cogswell

Interviews by Brainard Carey

Margaret Cogswell- In Mother’s yukata, giving presentation on my work in Japanese at the opening for my mixed media installation- Karasu to Issyoni Kaerimasyo: A River of Memories in Ichinomiya, Japan- 8/24/2024. Margaret Cogswell is a mixed-media installation artist residing in West Shokan, New York. Cogswell is the recipient of numerous awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2009), Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2017-18, 1991 & 1987) and the New York Foundation for the Arts (2007, 1993). Cogswell’s most recent project (2024), “ Karasu to Issyoni Kaerimasyo: A River of Memories”, was made possible by a generous grant from The Tree of Life Foundation. Cogswell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Japan where she lived until she was 13 years old. Since 2003, the main focus of Cogswell's work has been an ongoing series of RIVER FUGUES projects exploring the interdependency of people, industry and rivers. RIVER FUGUES began in Cleveland, Ohio with Cuyahoga Fugues, a mixed-media installation inspired by and incorporating generations of stories reflecting the life and dreams embodied by the Cuyahoga River. Expanding on this idea, Moving the Waters: Ashokan Fugues was created for a solo exhibition at the Cue Art Foundation in NYC in 2014, and re-created in 2016 for a solo exhibition at the Kleinart /James Center for the Arts, Woodstock, NY. RIVER FUGUES have been commissioned by museums and art centers for exhibitions nationally and internationally including Moving the Water(s): Croton Fugues, at Mid-Manhattan Library of New York Public Library, in New York, NY ( solo 2017); Water Soundings, for the Zendai Zhujiajiao Art Museum, China (solo 2014); Wyoming River Fugues at the Art Museum, University of Wyoming, Laramie (solo 2012); Hudson River Fugues at Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, (group 2009-2010); River Fugues for a traveling group exhibition at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, Belgium (2007), the Monaco Ministry of Culture (2008) and Chicago Field Museum (2009); Mississippi River Fugues, Art Museum, University of Memphis, Tennessee (solo 2008); Buffalo River Fugues at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY (solo 2006); Hudson Weather Fugues at Wave Hill, NYC (group 2005), and Cuyahoga Fugues at SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio (solo 2003). All RIVER FUGUES mixed-media installation projects include a parallel body of works on paper. Recent exhibitions of such works include In the Elements at Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, NY (2022); Fragile Rainbow at Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Williamsburg, NYC, NY (2022). Upcoming in March, 2023, Cogswell’s work will be included in an exhibition titled This Earth at the Concord Center for the Visual Arts (Concord, Massachusetts) for artists who were awarded residencies at the Montello Foundation in the Great Basin of Nevada in 2022. Margaret Cogswell, Karasu to Issyoni Kaerimasyo: A River of Memories (2024)Mixed-media installation: sunset “painted” with tulle; river= fishing nets over wire fencing mesh; LED candles on river; fishing nets on floor; black shadow on veneer board; fishing pole with bamboo & wire; photo in white fishing net; grey acrylic ground cloth on walls & bamboo structure; crows painted with sumi on washi paper stitched onto tulle and stretched over bamboo circle frame. Margaret Cogswell, Karasu to Issyoni Kaerimasyo: A River of Memories (2024) Detail of photo of artist at 4 years old with playmate in swing in hometown of Marugame, Japan. Margaret Cogswell, Departing - Fearlessly Buoyant (2024) Collaged watercolor, sumi ink, acrylic ink & color pencil on paper. 26” x 47” (unframed dimensions)