Discipline: Visual Art

Margaret Nao Davis

Discipline: Visual Art
Region: Portland, OR
MacDowell Fellowships: 1999
More: manaobooks.com
Margaret Nao Davis won a grant to study bookbinding and related arts in the People’s Republic of China. Along with an apprenticeship at the National Library of China, Davis, who speaks Mandarin, visited traditional printers and conservators on travels throughout the country. On returning to Portland, Davis produced more limited-edition works and began offering presentations and workshops on Chinese bookbinding. A long-planned project to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square student movement became a reality when MacDowell offered Davis a residency to complete Beijing Heart: A Tiananmen Story. She also hand-printed the photographic illustrations. After publishing Bahia Night in 2003, Davis took a hiatus to build a studio in Portland, completed in 2006. For pictures of that project, visit the Bindery. In 2017 Davis completed China Under the Covers: A Binder's Journey to the Roots of Books, a how-to manual and adventure tale honoring the world's oldest communications device.

Studios

Adams

Margaret Nao Davis worked in the Adams studio.

Given to the MacDowell Association by Margaret Adams of Chicago, the half-timbered, stuccoed Adams Studio was designed by MacDowell Fellow and architect F. Tolles Chamberlin ca. 1914. Chamberlin was primarily a painter, but also provided designs for the Lodge and an early renovation of the main hall. The studio’s structural integrity was restored during a thorough renovation in…

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