Meet the Artist: Maggie Stanley

Flora(l) Portals

Maggie Stanley is a largely self-taught artist born and raised in Massachusetts. Her parents brought—sometimes dragged—their kids on many nature, history, art, and science outings, which provided rich visual imagery. Recognizing Maggie’s draw to fine art, her mother made sure that places like the MFA, Gardner, Peabody Essex, and deCordova museums became familiar fixtures. She also arranged a few oil painting sessions with a close family friend and painter, Marcia Smith, and signed Maggie up for occasional weekend and summer art classes for children at deCordova.

Through her academic and business careers, Maggie created art “on the side,” mostly on small paper, sometimes offering pieces as gifts or prints for sale. In the past seven years, Maggie started doing digital art and painting canvas pieces in acrylics. Realizing that she’d like to take classes again, she joined a Monday night oil painting class at The Umbrella Arts Center in Concord.

The idea for Flora(l) Portals came about this past spring when Maggie saw the Morse Institute Library’s light-filled atrium. Representing Maggie's first solo show, Flora(l) Portals was created with this atrium in mind and are the largest pieces she has created to date. By the time Flora(l) Portals is hanging, most of the flowers represented will have passed for the year. Hopefully the images will bring joy and a resolution to appreciate the miracle of (sometimes fragile) beauty whenever it is present.

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