My daily inspiration is the feeling of taking a creative concept and cultivating it into a tangible work of art.
Using my intuition and simple shapes, a design emerges that may have been there all along.
oil on board
Image size: 15.5 H x 13.75 W inches
Frame size: 20 H x 18.5 W inches
oil on board
Image size: 28.5 H x 26.5 W inches
Frame size: 30.5 H x 28.5 W inches
Blonde wood frame
oil on board
Image size:19 H x 18.5 W inches
Frame size: 22 H x 21 W inches
Blonde wood frame
oil on board
Image size: 19 H x 18.5 W inches
Frame size: 22 H x 21 W inches
Sepia wood frame
oil on board
Image size: 30 H x 23.75 W inches
Frame size: 34 H x 28 W inches
Blonde wood frame
oil on board
Image size: 27 H x 23.5 W inches
Frame size: 30 H x 27 W inches
Blonde wood frame
oil on board
Image size: 28.5 H x 28.5 W inches
Frame size: 30.75 H x 30.75 W inches
Blonde wood frame
Rockford, Illinois was a great place to grow up as a child where I could explore the surrounding woods, creeks, and fields. My love of nature and art began at an early age.
Our house was filled with art books from publishers like Henry N. Abrams. My father purchased mail-order art prints and placed them on our walls. I remember using my little crayons to draw on sheets of clean white paper. I much preferred this over coloring books.
I remember being enthralled by the gemstone colors on my mother’s embroidered purse. The deep ruby red, ultramarine blue, lemon yellow, and cool green had an entrancing effect as the light bounced to create sparkles in the room.
The visual cues of my childhood inspired me to draw using my little crayons on white sheets of paper trying to capture everything I saw around me.
In school, I was again inspired by visual cues. Specifically, a photograph on the cover of my 5th-grade geography book of a fishing shack on Bradley Wharf, Massachusetts motivated me to move to New England after I graduated high school. It was there that I learned from great teachers like Henry Schwartz of the Museum School, Boston, whose intelligence and encouragement affirmed my decision to become a painter years earlier.
Now residing in Tucson, a city of interesting people and creative energy, I’m inspired to continue my art practice every day. While in my studio, I alternate between painting and reading with the occasional catnap.
My favorite aspect of the creative process is applying lines, shapes, and colors to build a visual structure that is capable of replaying its intentions.
Longing
Otherness
Movement
Early 20th Century Abstract Art
Figural Painting
Albert York
Pencil sketching
Oil Paints
Articulating Forms
CREDENTIALS
EDUCATION
Master of Arts – University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Bachelor of Fine Arts – School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Solo and Group Exhibitions - Davis Dominguez Gallery, 1997-2017
“Arizona Biennial”- Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson AZ, 2001, 1997, 1993
Group Exhibitions - Lisa Kurts Gallery, Memphis, TN, 2012-2013
Gallery Exhibition - Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 1999-2004
“Tucson Museum of Art Faculty Exhibition- Temple of Music and Art, Tucson, AZ, 1994-1998
“The Contemplative”- Harbor Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 1996
“School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Traveling Exhibition”, Suicov Institute, Moscow, Russia, 1990
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Reagan, Margaret. “The Age of Anxiety”, Tucson Weekly, volume 32, no. 9., April 13-19, 2017
Cover Illustration, “Spring Arts Review”, Tucson Weekly, vol. 32, no. 4., 2017
Reagan, Margaret, “Feel of the Unfinished”, Tucson Weekly, volume 29, no. 7, April 5-11, 2012
Reagan Margaret, “More or Less Abstract”, Tucson Weekly, volume 26, no.45 Dec 31- Jan.6, 2010
Lobo, Susan, “Roots and Flowers: The Vine and King Neighborhood” 2008
Reagan, Margaret, “ Big Art in Small Packages”, Tucson Weekly, volume 23, no. 17, June 22-28, 2008
RELATED PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Faculty, School of Art, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ. (1994-2004)
Faculty, Extended University, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. (1996-1999)
AWARDS, GRANTS, AND RESIDENCIES
Recipient, Regents Scholarship, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, 1990
Finalist, Dana Pond Competition, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA 1989
Best of Show, 25tth Annual Marblehead Festival of the Arts, Marblehead, MA 1990
B.O.I.T. Award, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA 1990
