Margaret Patterson’s early exposure to art was a correspondence course, an atypical way for an artist to pursue her training. Such individualism characterized the Arts and Crafts mindset, as did other aspects of Patterson’s life. Patterson did regional scenes, like this view of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her subjects centered on nature, which founders of the Arts and Crafts movement believed to be uplifting. She personally made every print, as her slightly varied impressions of the same subject attest. She also tried to make art accessible to ordinary people: in 1922, a Boston bookstore sold her color woodcuts for $18 each, or about $270 today.
