Margaret McDonald’s vibrant twist on tradition

By Jemma Jones

Jun 25, 2025

Margaret McDonald’s ‘Connected but Different’ exhibition will be at the Kyabram Town Hall Art Gallery until July 31. Photo by Contributed

Margaret McDonald’s quilt exhibition ‘Connected but Different’ is anything but traditional.

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A swirl of coloured textiles across 36 different quilts will greet you when walking into the main hall of the Kyabram Town Hall Art Gallery.

It’s what Wodonga artist, Ms McDonald, describes as her love letter to traditional quilting, with a contemporary twist.

“My work transgresses across a whole category of quilts … and for those that do quilting, they would recognise as being quite traditional — but I don’t actually do traditional things with the colours I choose or how I might repeat the pattern,” Ms McDonald said.

“So, they do have this connection to tradition, but they are different to what a lot of traditional quilters would see as traditional quilts.”

She has been stitching since she was five years old and grew up learning different types of textile mediums from machine and hand embroidery, sewing, basketry, spinning and quilting.

Similar to her artistry, she has dipped her toes into a few roles over the years in her career, from teaching to working in the health industry, all while pushing the limits with her quilting.

Her exhibition is a result of an entire life of pulling from inspiration in her life, with some of her favourite pieces reflecting precious moments.

Like children, she finds it difficult to pick her favourite of the 36-quilt exhibition; but there are a few that stand out.

“One of the traditional pieces is Macquarie Street, and it’s only got two fabrics in it – the navy and white – and I made it to enter into the 2022 Sydney Quilt Show,” she said.

“I sought permission from the Sydney Opera House to use that very simple image of the opera house around the border — that piece is unusual for me, but one of the pieces I really like.”

But there is an exclusive piece she made for her first Kyabram exhibition, which she thinks exemplifies the agriculture nature of the area — Water Weeds.

“I was trying to capture the motion of the water weeds growing in the irrigation channels around Kyabram, and I was trying to reflect something local,” she said.

“The environment will always impact my work.”

Ms McDonald’s primary goal for the exhibition is to challenge preconceptions and firmly establish quilts as a legitimate and expressive art form.

“People that are used to going to art galleries, but not necessarily quilts, we need to challenge that notion that quilts don’t just live on beds, that quilts can live on the wall,” she said.

You can catch the ‘Connected but Different’ exhibition by Margaret McDonald at the Kyabram Town Hall Art Gallery until July 31.