Margo Ezekiel spent more than 40 years designing user interfaces in the tech industry. Now the Newton Centre collage artist has earned international recognition for her second act.

Ezekiel is one of 36 artists worldwide selected for TORN, an online collage exhibition curated by Juniper Rag, a Worcester-based visual art platform. Graphic design legend David Carson, best known as art director of Ray Gun magazine in the 1990s and recipient of the 2014 AIGA Gold Medal, juried the show and chose four of Ezekiel's recent works, OurNewton.org reported Tuesday, Aug. 11.

Ezekiel called the selection deeply meaningful given her decades-long career in user interface design.

From Brown to the Gelli plate

Ezekiel earned a B.A. in Computer Science from Brown University and built a career in user experience design. On her artist website, she describes the tension that defined her early professional life.

"I was born 30 years too early," she writes. "When I was in college and starting my career, technology and art were two separate worlds. There wasn't a 'job' that really encompassed both. So, I had to choose."

Early in the pandemic, a fellow artist introduced her to Gelli plate printing, a technique that uses a gelatin plate instead of a press. She made the leap to full-time art in 2021 and has not looked back. Her home studio is in Newton Centre, where she creates layered abstract collages from papers she prints herself.

Her process is organic. According to her Newton Art Association member page, she rarely starts with a plan, instead letting her "very messy table" spark the first move. She has had five solo shows and participated in group exhibitions at Gallery Twist and Galaray in Lexington.

Local ties, global stage

Ezekiel serves as membership chair of the Newton Art Association and sits on the Spark Newton board. She also took classes at MassArt, the MFA and the deCordova, and comes from a family of makers: her mother, daughter and cousin are all accomplished artists.

Juniper Rag co-founder Michelle May called Carson "pure legend" in the exhibition's call for art, adding that the platform "could not find a more fitting juror for TORN." Separately, Juniper Rag is opening a physical gallery at 138 Green St. in Worcester's Canal District, with a grand opening reception on Saturday, Sept. 12.

The TORN show is viewable at juniperrag.com.