Margaret Spalding

About Margaret Spalding

As an art director and designer, my goal is to speak uniquely to my audience – to catch a glimpse inside their mind and tinker with what might move them – or catch them off guard in the best of ways! Successful creative solutions are so often inspired by the smallest insight or unexpected connection. I love generating unexpected conceptual creative work with other strategic thinkers and writers. It\'s a damn good day when teamwork and a fresh approach solve a tired old problem. I worked in agencies for a dozen years before going freelance in 2019. I am a designer, a strategist, an artist, a former archeologist, and an activist. Since leaving the agency world, I\'ve discovered ways to work as a both a creative and as an urban environmental conservationist – fulfilling a life-long passion to protect wildlife. Since 2019, I\'ve served as Executive Director of the South River Watershed Alliance (SouthRiverGa.org), a river keeper for Georgia\'s South River (Weelaunee) which flows through Atlanta and feeds the largest freshwater system in the state. I was raised in Athens, Georgia by parents who poured their hearts into historic preservation in the 70s and 80s. My mother is a painter, among other things, and my father was a history professor and scholar. I attended the College of Charleston from receiving my BA in Anthropology and African Studies. I spent some years working in archeology throughout the Southeast and lived in Peru and Italy. In Italy, I received a minor in Studio Art with the University of Georgia in 2003, then I moved back home to Athens where I worked in the decorative arts. By 2009 I was living in Atlanta and received a post-grad degree in Graphic Design from The Creative Circus.

Experience

1. Executive Director

   South River Watershed Alliance

   Jul 2019 — Present · Atlanta, GA, US

Education

• College of Charleston

  BA

  1995 — 1999

• Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia

  Minor

  2000 — 2000

• College of Charleston

  Minor

  1995 — 1999

• The Creative Circus

  Creative Circus graduate

  2008 — 2010