There’s a reason everyone calls her “Marvelous Marg”.
She owns up to every bit her moniker bestows.
Story by Gloria Gale / Photography by Matt Kocourek
Within in a minute of meeting Marg, her warm smile and vivacious personality bubble up. She’s the antithesis of a shrinking violet. Generous to a fault and talented beyond measure, Marg is the essence of creativity.
Her South Plaza Craftsman-style home, which she and her late husband, Jay, shared, is one of those fairy tale 40-year romances that show up throughout her home.
“Jay and I were a match,” she says. “We both created with our hands.” He worked magic with carpentry while Marg was and remains a whiz at creating with her hands. Her handiwork is less with hammer and nails and more with the intricacies of making art quilts, aluminum and copper embossing, crafting jewelry, and having a keen eye for sourcing everything from garage sales to cast-offs that people give her.
She never met an object that wasn’t worth salvaging. She can’t imagine paying retail when the goods she finds are perfect for her art. Marge is the Master of Art that is curated…not cluttered.
A Warm Welcome
It’s not surprising to note that Marg, who is the oldest in a family of 10 siblings, was always the family ‘giver’. Blessed with an innate ability to be resourceful, her talents were always welcomed. She could cook, mend, design, and create as easily as breathing. “I knew I wanted to be an artist very early. I would paint, then move on to teaching myself how to quilt. I eventually became the President of the Starlight Quilt Guild of Kansas City. I loved to learn and would go to art lectures or take classes on what I wanted to master. I think working with my hands has been a saving grace. Whether it’s making hats, jewelry, or dreaming up a new quilt, there’s hardly an idle moment in this house.”
And it shows in her 1900s home, an ample-sized beauty notably designated on both the National Register of Historic Homes and the Kansas City Register of Historic Homes.
All dressed in sage colored stucco with stone accents that commonly adorn these vintage houses, once inside, rooms are defined by substantial-sized wood molding, mullioned windows, and well-kept wood floors.
Light from generous windows spills inside, complementing the colorful quilts hanging on the walls to Celadon ware displayed on a buffet or clear glass paperweights sparkling atop the living room mantle. There’s a novelty in nearly every room.
“I’m good with color, and design,” she acknowledges, and with these skills, she’s never at a loss for stitching up an eye-catching quilt or artwork pictures embellished with the glint of aluminum or copper.
She used an upstairs bedroom as her studio before they built a first floor studio that manages to accommodate all of her fabric art paraphernalia.
Gushing with enthusiasm, Marg wants visitors to realize that everything inside her home has been reworked, repurposed, and recycled like the knock-your-socks-off Tiffany-style fixture she secured in an artistic trade from one of her many art shows hanging above the dining room table.
Each of her three bedrooms displays a whimsical parade of various quilts gleaned from years of collecting artistically designed fabric.
Downstairs, rooms hold a focal point, or many for that matter. “The star is really my studio – a grand first-floor room, built by my husband and me,” Marg thoughtfully reflects. Together, they crafted a large space that holds a mobile island with built-in storage, along with an unencumbered floor where her quilts often have a place to land, giving her a clear view what pieces go where. In corners filled with projects, there are stacks of art quilts, books, sewing ephemera, and embossing materials – all awaiting a coveted spot sewn into a finished piece.
“Inevitably, I hear a lot of ‘Oohs and Aahs’ when I show my work,” she smiles. Little wonder, she’s no stranger to the drama a good fabric art piece can elicit. “I know what my clients enjoy and my aim is to keep up the work. It’s just like icing on a cake. Art gives a room a unique look and a one-of-kind pizzazz.”
