BIOGRAPHY

Margaret Roleke is a Brooklyn and Connecticut based artist originally from Long Island, New York. She earned an M.F.A. from Long Island University, C.W. Post, and a B.A. from Marymount Manhattan College. Working across textiles, sculpture, printmaking, and installation, her practice examines contemporary social and political issues, including gun violence, national identity, and systems of power.

Roleke's work has been exhibited nationally at venues including 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. In April 2025, her outdoor sculpture Tower was installed in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem. In June 2026, her work was featured in Upstate Art Weekend at four venues across New York, with three outdoor installations remaining on view through the fall at Mother-in-Laws (Germantown), Army of Frogs (High Falls), and 06870 Upstate (Gardiner).

In 2026, Roleke completed a ten-month Artist-in-Residence program at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, where she expanded her textile practice through embroidery, cyanotype, and sewn works on Kevlar. She has been awarded a 2027 residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado, where she will continue developing her interdisciplinary practice.

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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