H Margret BIO

H Margret’s first inspiration for art came at age 3 when looking at a family painting at her grandparents home in NYC. Her paternal grandparents traveled and collected unique, bright arts from many countries. Growing up in Valley Forge, PA, family art supply gifts were early tools to make art. In college, aware of income needs, her BA was in Journalism at Washington State University and classes in drawing, painting and jewelry were for fun. Years in the newspaper industry supported her art, as well as other skill sets, including real estate sales, marketing,  and working with horses. Her first studio was in Corvallis, OR. Eight years of work produced many pastel works, encaustic, oils and acrylics. A real estate marketing job fueled the work and she also marketed a statewide gallery brochure. Shirley Coffin of Schubert Gallery, a notable gallery in the region, was an important mentor as her work developed.

Margret did independent study in Seattle, WA, from 1991-1992 including many exhibitions. While there, she applied to 12 Master of Fine Art (MFA) programs, including Cranbrook, Mills College, Universities of UT, OR, WA, and Rhode Island school of Design. No college program accepted her, some of the work on this site was part of those applications. Shocked, Margret found her next step in moving to Santa Rosa, CA, where she worked at the Sebastopol Times weekly paper. But CA offered no gallery representation or possibilities. 

In 1993, following a March trip to New Mexico with a friend, she arrived in Santa Fe and set up a modest studio gallery at 622 Canyon Road. In that small studio (340 sq ft!), Margret sold many paper works to visitors from all over the world personally. When she told a visiting NY artist of the MFA rejections, he commented ” Well, you got here, that’s much better than graduate school.” There were no returns and many became collectors and friends. The Canyon Road artist community was thriving and vibrant. Santa Fe projects included a Community Youth Mural project featuring child self portraits on a red & white flag stripe background, a theme repeated in her work.

Captive Head Breaks Out was Margret’s indie art video that showed at Center For Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe. The video was made from drawings and pre-dated the digital revolution now current. Margret’s gallery also exhibited many other artists, including Native American artists for Indian Market.

429 Sandoval Street in Santa Fe was Margret’s next location, in a vintage adobe house near the Santa Fe CountyCourthouse. Timing proved difficult as this was 2001, the 9/11 event happened four months after her gallery opened. The gallery showed many artists, including Yozo Suzuki, James Koskinas, Julie Schumer, Pamela Markova, James Larson, Ryan Lee Smith. It was a difficult economic time for artists as Santa Fe became more expensive and lost many entrepreneurs. The gallery became an Air BNB  and then closed in April, 2017 when the house sold. Margret now works in Albuquerque’s South Valley. 

CONTACT MARGRET:  505-501-2290,  hmargret@cybermesa.com