Artist Statement

Margaret Watson Artist Statement My work is based on landscape. Landscape, as a construct, allows me to explore different types of space. Rather than painting from the viewpoint of deep, perspectival space of traditional landscape, I use formal relationships between color and mark to explore a flatter, more abstract and conceptual space.

I love the construction of the painting and the materiality of the canvas, the gesso, and the paint. Process builds the painting - each subsequent line, color, layer or erasure responding to the previous mark. Allowing the paint agency, I’m happy to relinquish control over the process, curious to see the emergence of shape, texture and form. While I work to allow spontaneity and chance in my paintings, they are very considered in terms of composition and how the placement of mark and shape relate to the edges and dimensions of the support. I believe in an economy of mark-making and that beautiful and compelling imagery can be evoked simply and with minimal means.

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Artist Biography

Margaret Watson is a painter living in New York City and Bucks County Pennsylvania. She received an undergraduate degree in design and fiber arts from the University of California at Davis and, at the University of Washington, did post graduate studies in scientific illustration and earned a degree in medicine. Following a career in medicine she returned to painting full time. She has been awarded artist residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Willapa Bay Artist in Residency, and Brush Creek Artist Residency. Prior to moving East, she was represented in Seattle by Francine Seders Gallery and Gallery I/M/A. Her work has been shown and collected in Seattle, New York and Philadelphia. She is presently a member of Muse Gallery in Philadelphia and ArtWRKD in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

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Education

1986
MD, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

1972
BS, Design and Fiber Arts, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA

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Continuing Education

2000-2005
Painting and Drawing, Gage Academy of Art, Seattle, WA

Painting and Printmaking, Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, WA

2002
Advanced Painting Workshop with Ed Paschke, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO

1975
Scientific Illustration, University of Washington Extension, Seattle, WA

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RESIDENCIES

2025
Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

2017
Brush Creek Artist Residency, Saratoga, Wyoming

2014
Willapa Bay Artist in Residency, Oysterville, WA

2011
Centrum Artist Residency, Port Townsend, WA

2010
Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT

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PUBLICATIONS

World of Interiors, “Artistic Impressions” Conde Nast, March, April 2024

Hyperallergic, “A Spirit of Confident Feminism @ Salon Zürcher, Ela Bittencourt, May 17, 2022

Philadelphia Stories, Fall 2022

Matthew Kangas, “American Painting Today”, Visual Art Source, Jan 11-15, 2017

Studio Visit Magazine, Winter 2016-2017

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COLLECTIONS

Swedish Hospital, Seattle WA

Ritz Carlton Hotel, Honolulu HI

Private collections San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Pennsylvania

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026
NEW PAINTINGS, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (scheduled)

2024
FROM THE OUTSIDE IN, Lola Shepard, Curatorial Projects + Gallery, New York, NY ‍

FIELD WORK, ArtWRKD Gallery, Newtown, PA ‍

POURED PAINT, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2022
LANDSCAPE ~ TWO VIEWS, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2021
BEYOND BORDERS, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2020
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: MARGARET WATSON, Gallery I/M/A, Seattle, WA

2017
BORDERLAND, Gallery I/M/A, Seattle, WA

2013
FRAMED MEADOW, Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA

2012
MEADOW, Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025
COLORS OF THE SEASON, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2024
(Re)FOCUS, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

THROUGH THE ARTIST LENS, ArtWRKD Gallery, Newtown, PA

\THE SENSE OF SURFACE, The Painting Center, New York, NY

00 WOMEN OF SPIRIT, Zürcher Gallery, New York, NY

ARTIST VOICE, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2023
THE VISUAL VOICE, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

THROUGH THE ARTIST LENS, ArtWRKD Gallery, Newtown, PA

The Clio Art Fair, New York

2022
11 WOMEN OF SPIRIT PART 5, Zürcher Gallery, New York, NY

2021
Group Show, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2020
Art Show at Phillips’ Mill, Phillips’ Mill, New Hope, PA

2019
New Works - Summer Group Exhibition, Gallery I/M/A, Seattle, WA

2018
Annual Holiday Group Exhibition, Gallery I/M/A, Seattle, WA

2018
Summer Group Exhibition, Gallery I/M/A, Seattle, WA

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REPRESENTATION

ArtWRKD Gallery, Newtown, PA

MUSE Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

THE PAINTING CENTER Art File, NY

Gallery I/M/A, Seattle, WA Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle, WA