Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret Dyer.
Margaret, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
On a fall day in 1970, in a classroom at the Atlanta College of Art in the High Museum, a model dropped her robe and stood naked in front of a class of wide-eyed eighteen-year-old art students, at that moment I found something I loved – the challenge to draw the living, breathing, continuously moving landscape of the human body. What began as a challenge soon became a passion which has not abated. I have spent most of my adult life trying to excel at this skill.
I have lived in Atlanta since my family moved from New York in 1960. We lived in Buckhead (before Buckhead was trendy); most of my family still lives in or near Atlanta. I never completed my college studies, but studied instead under various painters: Roman Chatov, Kate Fetterolf and Jim Richards, to name a few. I continue to study.
I have made my living as an artist for the past 25 years–selling and teaching. For about 15 years I sold my pastel paintings at outdoor art festivals from Sauslito to Miami, from New York to Dallas. This also enabled me to get my work into galleries across the country. For the last 10 or so years I have been teaching workshops across the country, in France and in Italy.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I paint scenes with people in them. I can’t get excited about painting a landscape; I prefer instead busy city scenes or restaurant scenes with lots of energy and color. I am not a portrait artist; I prefer instead to place a person in a room which tells a story. What that story is, I leave for the viewer to imagine.
I love color. I love what happens when I put orange on top of lavender, or green on pink. I love teaching artists how to do that without making mud. I have painted with pastels (dry pigments in chalk-like form) for 30 years. Now I spend 90% of my time with oils. I love the feeling of moving paint on a canvas and making (hopefully) a beautiful picture for people to enjoy.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
There are as many kinds of artists as there are different kinds of art. Some artists want to communicate a political message. Some want to express their outrage. Some want to educate, as they have for hundreds of years. I am one of those artists who just wants to add a little beauty to the world. I have no message or agenda to promote. I just want to leave something beautiful for my children and anybody who appreciates my work.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can see my work on my web site (www.margaretdyer.com), on Instagram, Facebook, or in my studio in East Point, GA. You can also see my work at River Gallery in Chattanooga and Allison Sprock Fine Art in Charlotte, NC.
I will be having an exhibition at River Gallery the month of August, 2018. The opening reception is the first weekend of August. www.river-gallery.com.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1700 West Forrest Avenue
East Point, GA 30344 - Website: www.margaretdyer.com
- Phone: 678-520-4151
- Email: margaret.dyer@icloud.com
- Instagram: Margaret_dyer_paintings
- Facebook: Margaret Dyer Artist
- Other: margaretdyer.bkogspot.com
Image Credit:
All photos were taken by myself.
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