Margarita Vilshanetskaya is a fiber and mixed media artist living in Columbus, Ohio.
What started as a love for the versatility, tactile nature, and the creative freedom of fiber, led to experimentation with non-conventional weaving materials and a more meaningful process that allowed Margarita to connect to her Eastern European roots. As an immigrant and daughter of a seamstress, fiber medium has played a pivotal role in her rediscovery of familial traditions with the intersection of new experimental practices as a US citizen. She explores the intimate and commonplace relationship between society and fiber and the dissociation of the art medium in the gallery setting. Margarita’s fiber work challenges the social and physical construct of deterrence in museums and galleries by inviting guests to experience her work in an engaging, haptic, and familiar way – through touch.
In 2020, she launched her small business Too Cool 4 Spool where guests can browse vibrant, bold, and unique home décor, wall hangings, and jewelry.
Currently, she is the Manager of the Office of the President and Community Art Curator at COSI Center of Science & Industry, a nationally ranked museum where she oversees multiple STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) initiatives, including the bi-annual juried community art exhibition, a public display in which local artists are invited to share their individual interpretations and diverse artistic perspectives around the theme and scientific content of a current traveling exhibit.
NEWS
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Untangled: Contemporary Fiber for the Senses
Work by Janelle Hallett and Margarita Vilshanetskaya
“Untangled” is a series of contemporary fiber works that bring the medium back to its original intent and purpose: to be touched, felt, and caressed. Fiber is tactile and a part of everyday life, but as an art form, often made inaccessible for guests to touch in a traditional gallery setting. As you explore the gallery, experience the exhibition through your senses.
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Columbus Book Festival 2024
Commissioned artwork inspired by featured author Nick Petrie and his thriller The Price You Pay for the 2nd Annual Columbus Book Festival.
Ominous Light
Mixed Media - Plexi, vinyl, fiber
60”x60”
2024
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MuseumNext Speaker
Museums are often seen as spaces that showcase and celebrate creativity. But what often goes unnoticed is that museums themselves are dynamic spaces for creativity, where the past and present converge to ignite new ideas and inspire innovation.
“More Than Just An Extra Letter: Genuine “A(rt)” in STEAM at the Science Musuem” in partnership with Dr. Frederic Bertley, President & CEO (COSI) and Tony Auseon, Sr. Director of Creative Media.
What is art? We won’t try to answer that! Instead, we will explore how to more genuinely incorporate creative arts into museum disciplines such as science and history. Too often we see arts integrated in subservient roles, e.g. using music to deliver science content. While this has value and can provide effective tools, COSI has explored new ways to enliven the A(rt) in the context of STEAM. Novel creative projects, such as a musical theater exploration of the solar eclipse and our community-generated art exhibitions, seek to go beyond the basic “art using” and inspire more authentic “art making.”
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Traversing Textiles Exhibition, Ohio Craft Museum, 2024
“Contemporary fiber and textile artists are increasingly using their skills and media in innovative ways to produce work with an artistic focus, often with messages spanning social commentary, political, or environmental concerns. Both utilitarian and artistic uses of fiber and textiles are represented by the work of numerous artists and craftspeople, utilizing a variety of techniques including weaving, felting, tatting, stitching, quilting, and basketry.”
-Char Norman, curator
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Ohio State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition 2023
Abstract: 3’x9’, Yarn, wool, paper, vinyl, 2023, Professional Division
Interactive fiber installation on display at the Ohio State Fair Fine Arts exhibition, July 26-Aug 6, 2023.
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ODC's Best of 2023
Ohio Designer Craftsmen Best of 2023 exhibition at the Ohio Craft Museum.
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GCAC Professional Artist Grant Recipient 2022
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Daylight Artist Collective Fall Juried Exhibition 2022
Exhibition explored the idea of “Daylight”. Light gives us vision, and informs our lives-whether in the physical of figurative form. “Luster” was on display Oct 2-Nov 5, 2022.
