Sept. 1-30, 2026
This project is an intergenerational collaboration between Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) and her mother, Peggy Thompson. Their work brings together weaving, painting and shared observation of land. Using the grounds of the Arboretum as their common point of reference, they explore how two distinct visual languages – Ojibwe floral design and painterly depictions of ground – interpret the same environment.
Maggie created woven textile works using ribbon and beads to create Ojibwe florals, inspired by flowers growing in and around the Arboretum, while her mother painted a series focused on the ground, dirt and earth found at the Arboretum. Rather than depicting flowers directly, her work centers the soil that sustains them, emphasizing texture and a mother’s role as nurturer. Her paintings function as both physical and conceptual foundations for Maggie’s woven and beaded pieces.
In this way, the project reflects how knowledge is passed intergenerationally, and how, as children, we grow from those familial foundations. By layering her woven and beaded florals in relationship to her painted surfaces, Maggie’s work highlights differences in how we each see, translate and honor the land. This collaboration brings visibility to Ojibwe floral design as a living, evolving practice, while situating it in conversation with another generation’s way of making. The works emphasize relationships to land, lineage and to one another, positioning the Arboretum not only as a site of study, but as a shared teacher.
The Native American Artist in Residence program celebrates the intersection of art and nature at the Arboretum. The exhibit was co-curated by Gereon Fuller. It is funded by the 2024 Gala in the Gardens Fund-a-Need, which raised funds for co-curated art programming with historically excluded communities in 2025 and 2026.
This exhibit will run alongside the Stratigraphy exhibit in the Reedy Gallery for the month of September.
Cost: Included with general daily admission, which is free for members and ages 15 and younger and $20-25 for non-members ages 16 and older. Indigenous peoples receive waived general daily admission to the Arboretum when making a reservation by calling 612-301-6775.
Artist Meet & Greet
Sunday, Sept. 13 from 11:30-1:30 p.m. in the Reedy Gallery
Did you miss Maggie’s Ojibwe collage class? Join Maggie Thompson, the Arboretum’s inaugural Native American Artist in Residence, for a Meet & Greet on Sept. 13 in the Reedy Gallery! Meet the artist, talk to her and her collaborators about their artistic process and see the community art piece created during Maggie’s community engaged floral collage class.
Maggie Thompson
Makwa Studios Founder + Owner + Artist + Knit Programmer
As a (Fond Du Lac) Ojibwe woman of mixed heritage, I work with an intuitive hand to bridge cultures and traditions gathered from firsthand experiences. I derive my inspiration from the history of my heritage and what it means to be a contemporary Native woman.
My work calls attention to its materiality pushing the viewer’s traditional understanding of textiles and “Native Art.” I explore materials in my work by incorporating multimedia elements such as photographs, beer caps, ribbon, and beadwork. Each of my pieces are built around a strong conceptual narrative, digging deeper into notions of identity by focusing on issues of cultural appropriation, Native authenticity, relationships, and loss and grief.
Being transparent is a fundamental value in my working process. Although my work is very rooted in personal experiences I aim to educate others about the Native community about both our collective and individualized experiences. I use textiles as a way to contain memory, to reflect, and to tell a difficult story.
Peggy Thompson
Making art is one of the greatest loves of my life. My mother was an artist. She gave me Joseph Albers color packets to play with when I was little. When I was five I crawled under the velvet rope to touch a painting of Van Gogh’s while visiting the Art Institute of Chicago. Twenty years later I graduated from there with a BFA and MFA. I have made art for 50 years. I Taught photography, classical drawing, collage and bookbinding. It is what gave me wisdom about living life creatively and spiritually. I also applied it to being a chaplain for 35 years. Now I have morphed into a painter of nature/ climate change.
It is great fun to create this show with my daughter who is an incredible artist. We play together well! As a grandmother I care deeply about creativity, strength, beauty, healing and love going from generation to generation.