My husband and I joke that this whole staging business is just an excuse to spend time with artists and artisans and have a great reason to buy their beautiful wares. I would like to claim my art collection is all local, but alas I’ve been collecting art from everywhere I go for most of my adult life. I am remiss in not calling attention to the artists that I have collaborated with over the years, sooner. I can’t get to all of the artists that I have in my collection but I can get to my local ones. I am creating a new blog series highlighting and paying homage to the artists and artisans that I have the pleasure to work with here in the Charlotte region.
I am so excited to begin this series with Margaret Fleeman. Margaret and I met through a shared neighbor/friend who was excited to introduce us. This neighbor friend, who had also been in the art world in Charlotte, had a sense that Margaret and I would share a creative aesthetic. I’ll never forget meeting Margaret, both of us leaning up against the kitchen counter drinking a glass of wine during a get-together. I immediately felt Margaret’s creativity. It’s always so inspiring to be in the presence of an artist that also enjoys even my stupid ideas. Margaret and I didn’t talk to many other people that evening. We just talked fun stuff, ya know, art, design…staging.
Margaret Fleeman has called Charlotte home for over 25 years. She is a fine artist and interior design consultant. Originally she relocated from the northeast to design for Charlotte’s home fashions textiles mills. Margaret has also done creative residencies in Italy and Germany. Following a rewarding career in textile design, she launched a design and color consulting business, folding her skills and experience into residential applications. As a painter and a designer, Margaret applies these creative skills toward every project with a goal of capturing the vision desired by her clients.
I began to realize Margaret could do just about anything creative. Mostly she could be given an idea for a canvas and run with it. This allowed me as a stager to offer custom pieces that create the styling and character unique to each home. This is a remarkable offering and incredibly unique for a temporary staging. Margaret and I teamed up to create several pieces and in one case a series of works. Margaret’s passion for travel informs every piece she touches. Her work elevates its surroundings.
Our process is easy, and goes something like this Me: Hey Margaret I like these colors. I’m kinda thinking something swirly and twirly (aka abstract) about this big (as I reach out my arms and make an imaginary box) I need it soonish. Margaret: Ok. The end result is always something way more than I could have hoped and stunning.
One project was a series of geometric shapes and lines, think cubism, with bold mid-century modern inspired colors. The inspiration for these pieces came to me via mid-century modern furniture pieces I have, also by an artisan associate of mine (to be highlighted in a future post) They turned out perfectly. Margaret also made different sized pieces to be mixed and matched in 100 different ways making the pieces fitting together a larger cubist piece. Soooo cool.
Another project was based solely on a light fixture. Yes a very sparkly low hanging light fixture perched in front of a plain white wall. I came to Margaret with the design challenge of; what do we hang on the wall behind this dominant fixture that compliments it and doesn’t compete or become messy or distracting to the eye? Answer, a beautiful color story of soft soothing greens and blues with a consistent pattern and texture. This painting made for a perfectly beautiful backdrop. We have done several other collaborations together.
I love working with Margaret and her boundless creative brain, oh and she’s a fun neighbor too.
If you want a Margaret Fleeman piece give me a call.
