Margaret Jacobs: Kinship at Burlington City Arts

Margaret Jacobs creates steel sculptures and finely crafted jewelry, exploring the tensions and harmonies between the fabricated and natural worlds. An enrolled member of the Akwesasne Mohawk tribe in upstate New York, Jacobs investigates cultural histories and identity. In Kinship, Jacobs examines the relationships connecting unexpected or contradictory elements, believing that materials have their own distinct narratives.
In her Old Growth Series, Jacobs melds forms of flora and medicinal plants with tools associated with early twentieth-century Mohawk ironworkers. Alongside the stark lines and unadorned metal of these steel sculptures, the artist’s colorful jewelry features botanicals - such as garlic, mint, and strawberry - arranged in groupings as “partner pieces” charged with a quiet strength and beauty.
Exhibition video produced by Scott Cherhoniak of Carbonate Media.
The 2024 exhibition year is presented by Mascoma Bank. Margaret Jacobs: Kinship is sponsored in part by the Maslow Family Foundation. Hospitality sponsors, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Farrell Distributing, and William Hill Estate Winery. Burlington City Arts is supported in part by the Vermont Arts Council & the National Endowment for the Arts.