Minnesota designer draws inspiration from Ojibwe heritage

INTERVIEWER: For many BIPOC people, wearing their traditional cultural clothing in their everyday lives can be a way to express their cultural heritage, honor the legacy of their families, and send a powerful message about creating more representation in traditionally white spaces. Today on Minnesota Now, we're featuring one Native designer who draws inspiration from her Ojibwe heritage in the knitwear she creates. Maggie Thompson is a textile artist and owner of Makwa Studio. She joins me now to talk more about her work and her thoughts on the growing movement. Maggie, thank you for joining us.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Hey. Thanks so much for having me.

INTERVIEWER: So tell us a little bit about the pieces you design.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yeah, so I knit my items using a hand flat knitting machine. So everything's hand driven. I create work influenced by a lot of different beadwork and quilt work patterns and structures. And then we live in a place where it gets cold and dreary in the winter, so having that pop of color or brightness in my work to help cheer people up-- yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. So I'm just curious, what's your creative process as an artist?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yeah, so I do a lot of research. I'm always collecting images. Usually, I'll sketch up different patterns or designs and do a series of knit samples exploring different color work and structure until I find something that I like.

INTERVIEWER: And is there a medium that you particularly like to work in?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yeah, so my studio-- I have a knitwear side and then a fine art side. So the majority of all my knit items are made out of wool just for winter season. Wool is biodegradable. It's a natural material. And then for fine art, I do a lot of more exploratory ways of connecting different materials or kind of fastening different pieces together.

INTERVIEWER: So are there people that have inspired you in your art, that you draw on, I don't know, their inspiration or what they did?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: For-- you mean specific people or--

INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: I mean, I feel like I'm influenced by other artists, designers. I was an intern at the Minnesota Historical Society. So just being able to walk through collections and just, honestly, like anything and everything that I see and am surrounded by.

INTERVIEWER: And is there a period where you started to incorporate your own cultural traditions into your work, or is that what you wanted to do from the beginning?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: So my background is mostly in fine art, but I wanted to come up with a way to make the work more accessible and also use it as a tool for education, so whether that's specific patterns, or as I learned about my cultural heritage, I did a project with Askov Finlayson for the iconic North hats. And instead of saying "North," we use [OJIBWE], which is "North" in Ojibwe. So that's something that's kind of developed more as I've grown my business and art practice. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: Yeah. And so there does seem to be a growing movement of Native people in Minnesota who are wearing traditional cultural clothing. Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan is one of them, of course. So how do you look at this growing movement? How does it affect you?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean, it's-- growing up, I feel like there wasn't a lot of representation or what was available was more kitschy. I've talked with friends about this. And I think we're coming after a generation of folks who didn't necessarily feel comfortable or safe expressing themselves as being Native. And now that's overturning, and now-- it's so important to see work in a contemporary context in people showing up in spaces.

So I feel like when some-- like Peggy, when she supports Native artists and designers, she's always making a statement about where she comes from and uplifting others as she pursues her passions in life. And it's just-- it gives people inspiration. There's solidarity. People feel a sense of pride and strength and-- yeah, I mean, it's really great to see that the culture is still alive and thriving in our communities.

INTERVIEWER: It has to be cool to have the Lieutenant Governor Flanagan wearing your designs.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yeah, it's amazing. It's really cool. Yeah, I mean-- yeah, I was shocked the first time I saw her name pop up in my order list. I was-- what? No way. So cool.

INTERVIEWER: And then-- so I hear-- I have a note here that you just got a new knitting machine.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: So I did a fundraiser for Stoll industrial knitting machines. So it's actually supposed to arrive in the cities today. Fingers crossed.

INTERVIEWER: Fingers-- we'll have our fingers crossed for you. So what are your plan-- are these part of plans to be expanding your business, develop your business?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yes. Yep, so it'll allow-- since everything is hand done now, it will allow us to scale up. And then I also want to start working with other Native artists and producing small batches of whatever they want, whether it's knitwear products or fine artwork, and then also developing my own art practice and knit items as well. So there will be a Makwa portion and then a artist support kind of collaborative section of it too.

INTERVIEWER: So is there a collaborative Native artists supporting each other, or is this more of a lonely endeavor?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: This-- getting the machine?

INTERVIEWER: No, working with other artists. Do you support each other? Do you work together much?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: I mean, I have affiliations with a bunch of artists, especially in the Twin Cities, but Makwa is just me at the moment.

INTERVIEWER: At the moment, yeah. So what are your hopes for the future?

MAGGIE THOMPSON: I would love to see just more representation, more Native entrepreneurs and businesses, people supporting the community, more educational opportunities. I am really interested in wealth distribution, and that's-- in terms of working with artists, and how can a business support an artist in that sense?

And then I am also interested in how Native art and fashion will develop with technology. And that's another drive behind the reason for getting a Stoll machine and seeing that shift and change happen, whether it's knitting or a different art form.

INTERVIEWER: And how hard was it to start your business? I mean, it's hard enough for any artist to start a business, and I can only imagine that it must be even harder for a Native artist.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Yeah, I feel like I have a really good support system here. And it's-- I think the Native community is really strong. And then I also have kind of built up a circle of mentors of small business owners that I look up to as well. And then I started really small. So I literally started with buying like two balls of yarn and knitting one hat and selling that hat, which then turned into a couple more hats. So my background is not from business. So it started pretty organically and small.

INTERVIEWER: Well, thank you very much for taking your time, and I look forward to seeing what you're able to do with the new equipment, the new knitting machine.

MAGGIE THOMPSON: Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

INTERVIEWER: Maggie Thompson is a designer in Saint Paul and owner of Makwa Studio. You can see her work at makwastudio.com.