Margaret Grottenthaler

Toronto, Ontario

Margaret Grottenthaler (aka: Lawless Needle) is a textile artist. After retiring in 2018 from a 35-year legal career, she redirected her creative energy into fibre art, with a particular focus on improvisational contemporary quilting.

Margaret’s vibrant works often include complicated piecing, turned and raw-edge appliqué, painted fabrics mixed with commercial and hand-dyed ones, and original surface design techniques in order to achieve a painterly effect.

Margaret’s use of bold colours and dynamic compositions are intended to evoke a sense of joy and optimism, drawing inspiration from urban and natural landscapes.

“The ‘lawless’ part is about both the career change and my approach: I’ll try anything, but don’t ask me for perfect points or to follow a pattern.”