BIOGRAPHY

Margaret Roleke is a Brooklyn- and Connecticut-based artist originally from Long Island, New York. She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, where she will work through June 2026. Roleke earned her M.F.A. from Long Island University, C.W. Post, and her B.A. from Marymount Manhattan College. She also studied at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Katonah Museum of Art, Pen + Brush Gallery, and WhiteBox in New York City. In 2024, she received an Artist Respond Grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Her outdoor sculpture Tower was installed in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem in April 2025. Past residencies include the Vermont Studio Center, Teton ArtLab, ArtPort Kingston, and 4Heads Portal on Governors Island.

ARTIST STATEMENT

America is at a crossroads, facing intertwined crises—systemic racism, gun violence, climate change, wars abroad, and the dismantling of truth. My work is an urgent response to these issues, aiming to provoke thought, dialogue, and action. Working across mediums; cyanotypes, prints, sculptures, and installations, I explore how these forces shape our collective experience. Living near Sandy Hook Elementary School, where a mass shooting occurred in 2012, has deeply informed my artistic approach. I believe art has a role in advocacy, which is why a percentage of all my sales supports gun control organizations. I move fluidly between mediums—blending silkscreen, monoprint, collage, and sewn elements—each choice reflecting the layered complexity of our time. My hope is that my art becomes part of a larger conversation about healing, resistance, and the urgent need for change in America and throughout the world.

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