Margaret Woodcock moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2015, after having been born, raised and worked her adult life in the Central Valley of California. She initially graduated from college with a BA in English Literature (hence her love of the written word and poetry), then later returned to college to acquire an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the San Francisco Art Institute.

After receiving an MFA, Margaret began exhibiting her work and teaching college-level art studio and art history courses. Eventually, she secured a tenure track position and retired nine years ago. During her teaching tenure, she taught painting, drawing, printmaking, collage/assemblage, design, mural painting, and art history. Also during this time, she consistently exhibited her work at various venues in Sacramento, San Francisco, Chicago, and other areas in the West. She has an extensive exhibition history and her work is part of the Kaiser Permanente permanent collection as well as many private collections in Northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and nationally.

In retirement, Margaret and her husband decided to move to the Northwest for an “adventure”. They had married in Friday Harbor 30+ years ago and welcomed the change. She enjoys the water and mountain combination and just being in this natural setting having also grown up in the country as a child. She is fortunate to have a studio space at home where she continues to make art with various media. Margaret creates collages, does printmaking, primarily etching and monotype (she is a member of Corvidae Press at Fort Worden and currently on the board), and paints in both acrylic and oil with cold wax medium  She has also been a juried member of Port Townsend Gallery, a cooperative gallery, for five years.

Margaret thoroughly enjoys working in multiple media as each has its challenges and the creative result allows her to access different levels and senses of herself. All of her work is grounded in and greatly influenced by the imagery of the natural world and our attempts to catalog, measure, control, and find our place in this world. Within the images, you will find natural imagery such as landscapes, animals, birds, flowers, etc. as well as maps, diagrams, written text, charts, music, and other graphic pieces. Layering of all these elements is a huge focus; perhaps a statement about our multiple levels, variety of means of understanding, and the often odd juxtaposition of memory, dream, knowledge, and mystery.

For further information about Margaret and to see more of her work, please check out her website.