Marguerite Costigan

Member:

Central Coast Watercolor Society (Signature Member)

Montana Watercolor Society (Signature Member)

Southwestern Watercolor Society (Signature Member)

Texas Watercolor Society (Signature Member)

Western Colorado Watercolor Society (Signature Member)

Watercolor West (Signature Member)

S.L.O.P.E. (San Luis Outdoor Painters for the Environment.)

S.C.A.P.E (Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment)

Nomadas del Artes (National Plein Air Painters Group)

Central Coast Printmakers

Santa Barbara Printmakers

Artist’s Biography:

My artwork has been the central thread and mainstay of my life. I was born in 1945 on Long Island, New York, and raised in the farm country of Pennsylvania. Both my New York City-bred parents were artists: my mother aprofessional colorist; my father Philip Costigan a designer and watercolorist. I worked and learned in his home studio from the time I could first hold a brush until I attended Philadelphia College of Art. I’ve also studied privately with William Preston, AWS, of Ogunquit, Maine, and Libby Tolley, NWS, OPA, of Los Osos, California.

But it was the farm itself that affected me most deeply, that gave me the sense of time and love of the natural environment that still permeates my life and work. I’ve done commercial art and illustration since the age of 16; but in my 30’s I went back to college for a B.S. degree in Biological Science at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo. I was awarded a Fellowship for a year’s graduate study combining biology, art, and my other love, writing. I worked for 10 years at SLO County General Hospital as a Medical Lab Assistant, continuing to build my “real” life as an artist; and since 1988 I’ve been painting and writing full-time.

Watercolor is my favorite medium, but I also paint with colored pencils, oil pastels, acrylics, and alkyds (fast-drying oils). The bold design possibilities of fine-art original printmaking also intrigue me, especially monotypes; and I often mix media, transcending the limits of each by joining them.

I have been juried into over 30 National and Western Regional watercolor shows and six nationwide Plein Air festivals. My artwork is in private collections from Maine to Hawaii, and internationally in Canada, England, and Germany. Working from my home-studio in San Luis Obispo, I focus on natural forms and landscapes, personal mythology, and on the resonances between inner and outer realities that define and enrich human life. I am intensely grateful for the work itself, for the way it continues to teach me and lead me forward.

Home Studio At: 3960 South Higuera Street, #49

San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-1417

Phone: (805) 541-0492

e-mail: costiganmarguerite@sbcglobal.net

JURIED INTO NATIONAL & WESTERN REGIONAL SHOWS:

Watercolor West XLI National Exhibition, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, (September-October, 2009) BILL PEREGRIN MEMORIAL AWARD

Southwest Watercolor Society’s 46^th Annual Membership Show, Plano, TX (September-October, 2009)

Watercolor Arts Society of Houston (W.A.S-H) 32nd International Exhibition, Houston, TX (March/April 2009) MERIT AWARD for Watercolor.

Western Colorado Watercolor Society 17th Annual National Exhibition, Grand Junction, CO (March/April 2009).

Nomadas del Artes Plein Air Show – 200 artists from across the U.S. submitting two plein air artworks each, show held in Dallas, TX, in April-May 2009.

Southwest Watercolor Society’s 45^th Annual Membership Show, Plano, TX (August-September 2008)

Accepted into the Nomadas del Artes Plein Air Show – 200 artists from across the U.S. submitting two plein air artworks each, show to be held in Dallas, TX, in April 2009.

“Gateway to Imagination,” National Juried Show at Farmington Museum, Farmington, NM (May to July 2008).

Texas Watercolor Society’s 59th Annual Exhibition, at the International Museum of Arts & Sciences, McAllen, TX (March 2008).

Watercolor Arts Society of Houston’s 31st International Exhibition, Houston, TX (March 2008).

Western Colorado Watercolor Society 16th Annual National Exhibition, Grand Junction, CO (March/April 2008).

Southwestern Watercolor Society’s 44th Annual Member Exhibition, Richardson, TX (October 2007).

Western Foundation of Watercolor Societies Show, “Summer of Watercolor,” Denver, CO (June to August 2007).

Montana Watercolor Society’s 24th Annual National Exhibition, Bigfork Art & Cultural Center, Bigfork, MT (October 2006), CHEAP JOE’S ART MATERIALS AWARD.

San Diego Watercolor Society’s 26th International Exhibition, San Diego, CA (October 2006).

California Watercolor Association’s 38th National Exhibition at Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA (October 2006).

Southwestern Watercolor Society 43rd Annual Membership Exhibition, Garland, TX (Sept 2006).

Sebastopol En Plein Air, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA, (July-Aug 2006).

54th Juried All-Media Exhibit at the Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA, (Aug-Sept 2006), MARJORIE REYNOLDS SPECIAL AWARD for Watercolor.

Central Coast National Fine Arts Competition, Morro Bay Art Ass’n. Gallery, Morro Bay, CA (Aug-Sept 2006).

Plein Air New Mexico 2005, Sante Fe, NM (Dec. 2005).

Montana Watercolor Society’s Watermedia 2005 at Bigfork Art & Cultural Center, Bigfork, MT (Oct. 2005).

San Luis Obispo Plein Air Festival, 2005, October 2nd to 9th at San Luis Obispo, CA.

Plein Air 2005 at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, March 2005, Tucson, AZ.

Western Colorado Watercolor Society National Exhibit, March 2005, Grand Junction, CO.

Western Colorado Watercolor Society National Exhibit, March 2004, Grand Junction, CO.

First National Central Coast Art Competition, Morro Bay Art Association Gallery, Morro Bay, CA (July/August, 2004).

First Annual Plein Air Painting Festival, 9/30 - 10/6/2002 at San Luis Obispo, CA — one of 50 nationally-known artists juried into this week long event.

Montana Watercolor Society’s Watermedia 2001 at Bigfork Art & Cultural Center, Bigfork, MT (Oct. 2001). Purchase Award.

Western Colorado Watercolor Society 10th Anniversary National Exhibition at the Western Colorado Center for the Arts, Grand Junction, Colorado (Oct 2000) — Purchase Patron Award.

California Watercolor Association’s 29th Annual National Open Competition Show at the Concord Hilton, Concord, CA (May/June 1997) and at the Academy of Arts College,San Francisco, CA(July 1997).

New England Watercolor Society’s North American Open Show at the Federal Reserve Bank, Boston, MA (May/June 1996).

Watercolor West Annual Exhibition XXVII, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA (Sept./Oct.1995).

National Watercolor Society 74th Annual Exhibition, Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA(Nov./Dec. 1994).

August 21, 2010