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Margaret Roach Wheeler

She // Her // Hers

Weaver and Textile Designer

Sulphur, Oklahoma

A woman standing by a cabinet with many cones of brightly-colored yarns that she uses in her weaving. She has short gray hair and smiles warmly.

Photo by Tia Healy Photography.

“Inspired by Southeastern Indigenous motifs in my own practice and as founder of Mahota Textiles, I aim to highlight and preserve Indigenous artistic and craft traditions through contemporary woven works, from museum-quality garments to commercially designed textiles.”
Margaret Roach Wheeler is a Chickasaw-Choctaw textile artist and designer who merges fine arts training with her Indigenous heritage to weave contemporary garments rooted in Native American regalia and customs. Internationally recognized as an award-winning weaver, sculptor, Native historian, and educator, Wheeler honors the spirit of her great-great-grandmother, Mahota, and the cultural legacy of her people through detailed historical scholarship and the reinterpretation of Indigenous craft traditions in the United States. Wheeler’s work has been shown at Carnegie Hall, the Sam Noble Museum, the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Peabody Essex Museum, and the Museum of Art and Design.

Donor -This award was generously supported by donors of the USA Fellowship Awards program.

This artist page was last updated on: 01.14.2026

Architecture & Design
A black and red woven robe is displayed on a mannequin with long dark hair and a wooden base. On the head of the mannequin there is a woven crow perched and overlooking below with a silver face and beak.

The Murder of One, The Crow by Margaret Roach Wheeler, 2018. Handwoven silk and wool, ultra suede, hand-wrought silver. Headdress produced in collaboration with Alice McKee and Maria Mayo.

Photo by Kevin Todora.

A model is displaying the back of a robe while looking to the left, showing us the owl mask they are wearing. The mask is woven with red, orange, and yellow thread in large sections, representing the feathers that stick out on the top and sides of an owl's face. The robe drapes over the model’s back and legs with warm-colored fringe dangling at the ends. There are subtle black triangular and geometric patterns woven in the robe that complement the colors in the owl’s face.

The Messenger, The Owl by Margaret Roach Wheeler, 2014. Handwoven zephyr silk and wool yarn, copper hand-forged beak, conches, and peacock feathers.

Photo by Greg Hall.

Margaret roach wheeler thumbnail

Showcase of designs by Margaret Roach Wheeler.

Video by Brent Deramus.