Margaret Plumb lives in the Pacific Northwest near Eugene, OR, and specializes in fine arts. She is known for her vivid, saturated palette and bold, free, lively brushwork. She is both a plein air artist and a studio artist, mostly impressionistic representational, and some nonobjective. She has studied and worked in oils, watercolors, pastels, and pen and ink—but has been painting almost exclusively in acrylics for the last few years. “I currently paint primarily with acrylics because they're a versatile medium, with the capabilities of both watercolor and oil, and their quick-drying abilities accommodate my klutzy tendencies."
Some of Margaret's major influences have been the French Impressionists; primarily Pissarro and Cezanne, Post-impressionism, Fauvism and the incredible work of the early 20th century California Impressionist Movement. A self-guided art education over the years has taken her on a journey that includes studying under Sarkis Antikajiian, Ned Mueller, Eric Weigardt, Margo Schultze, Ron Rencher, Jerry Dame, Robert Burridge, Lorenzo Chavez, Dave Santillanes, Dawn Emerson, Michael Orwick, Jerry Ross, Betts Cole, Theresa Sharrar, Donna Watson, Paul Zeger, Dan Schmieding, among others...
Margaret grew up in Mt. Angel, Oregon, married and raised four children. Her family spent several years in the Silverton/Salem area, then moved to Bellingham, Washington and finally settled near Eugene in 1993. She has studied art at Lane Community College and Chemeketa, including design and layout. She worked for Discovery Maps, designing and illustrating artistic tourist maps for cities around the U.S. She does set painting/designing for dramas, including many years of work for Springfield High School's Drama Department. While continuing to practice and study art over the years, her creative bent took her on the path of music both as a hobby and a career. She started seriously pursuing art again about twelve years ago, and since then she has been painting prolifically and consistently. "I found that with art-- just as with music-- the process of tapping into intuition and the courage to express and communicate, are skills that are interchangeable.”
Margaret Plumb's work has been displayed at galleries, wineries and other venues throughout Eugene, Springfield, Lane County, and Marion County--both in solo shows and group shows with the Plein Air Painters of Lane County. Her work has has been accepted into numerous juried art exhibits, both local and national, and has won many awards and recognition. Her painting, "June at Loon Lake" recently won Best Acrylic in the May/June Plein Air Magazine, Her painting, "Downtown Eugene" was chosen for the cover of the Eugene Chamber of Commerce Directory, 2014. She's won several prizes at the CreateEugene Plein Air Paintout. Six of her Vineyard Paintings were featured in the David Joyce Gallery at LCC for the "Oregon Wine Country" exhibit. She served for four years on the workshop committee for Emerald Art Center - recruiting, advertising and facilitating workshops with nationally-known artists. She is a member of Maude Kerns Art Center and the Plein Air Painters of Lane County. She is on the founding board of Art in the Country, a Fine Arts & Authors annual festival.
Margaret Plumb’s art is currently displayed at Currents Gallery in McMinneville, OR, at Lunaria Gallery in Silverton, OR. as well as at Studio 7, a Gallery of her own work and selected other artists, which she curates and facilitates. Studio 7 Gallery & Events: 87230 Central Rd., Eugene, OR.
href="http://finartamerica.com/profiles/margaret-plumb.html">Fine Art America, at www.margaretplumb.com.
Awards and Achievements
1st Place Award in 17th annual WVLavender Festival Paintout, 2023, Professional Division
Artists’ Choice Award for body of work in the 2023 WVLavender Festival
3rd Place, Artists’ Choice, and Prople’s Choice in the 2023 Blueberry Festival Paintout.
Gladys Rust Award in National Juried Spring Exhibition 2023
Return participant by invitation to PNW paintout 2023, MaryHill Museum show
Participant by invitation to the PNW paintout 2022, subsequent MaryHill Museum show
Plein Air Invitational participant in Salem on the Edge Gallery, 2022, 2023
Wayward Winds award for excellence at The WV Lavender Festival, 2022 Newberg, OR
Chehalem Culteral Center Award for excellence at WV Lavender Festival 2021
People’s Choice Award at Coastal Plein Air Paintout
Honorable Mention award at Coastal Plein Air Paintout, Florence OR.
Accepted into 2022 National Juried Show, Emerald Art Center
Tools of the Trade annual event at U of O Duck Store, invited demo artist
2nd place winner in Division in Mayor's Art Show, Springfield 2019
Won the Silver Award for Alleyway at 2019 National Juried Show, Emerald Art Center
Accepted into 2019 National Juried Show, Emerald Art Center
Won 1st Place in Almadore, CA plein air painting/photography contest
Image used for ParentingNow donor invitations
Won Best Acrylic in PleinAir Magazine's Salon April/May contest
Accepted ino Lunaria Gallerey's juried show, Home is Where the heART Is, May 2018
Accepted into 2018 EAC national juried Spring Art Exhibit
Selected for Maude Kerns members’ exhibit wall.
Accepted into 2017 National Juried Exhibit: The Living Mark at Gillia Gallery, Portland
Won Certificate of Recognition at 2017 Emerald Spring national juried Art Exhibition
Exhibited in the National Juried Spring Exhibit at Emerald Art Center, 2017
Poster cover for Winestasia
Accepted in the National Juried Spring Exhibit at Emerald Art Center, 2016
3rd Place winner at Springfield Chalk Fest, Plein air division competition 2015
Curated into David-Joyce Gallery Show, LCC, 2015
Accepted into National Juried Show, "The City as I see it" Oct. 2014
1st place winner at Springfield Mayor's Art Show, 2014
1st Place winner in Cityscape Division, CreateEugene paintout, 2014
3rd place winner in Landscape division, CreateEugene paintout, 2014
Accepted into Watershed Gallery's Juried art show, August 2014
Accepted into Emerald National Juried show, May, 2014
Accepted into D.I.V.A. Lane County Juried show, May/June, 2014
Art chosen for cover of Chamber of Commerce Directory, Eugene Life 2014
Accepted into National Juried Show " Emerging Plein Air Artists" 2014
1st place winner, Springfield Mayor's Art Show 2013
3rd place winner in CreateEugene plein air paintout, Landscapes, 2013
Accepted into Juried Show, Oregon Wines, at David-Joyce Gallery, LCC
Accepted into Emerald National Juried Show 2013
1st place winner Springfield Mayor's Art Show 2012
Accepted into G.A.T.A. Juried show, 2012
2nd place winner FineArt America international contest
Accepted into Emerald National Juried Show 2012
Accepted into Juried Silverton Arts Association Plein Air Show, 2011
3rd Place winner in Silverton Arts Association Plein Air Show
Accepted into G.A.T.A. Juried show, 2010
Poster Cover for Silvan Ridge Winery plein air art show
Press:
Register Guard (Eugene/Springfield newspaper)Bob Welch, columnist, part of feature story: highlighting Margaret Plumb, artist
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2011/12/29/artsshorts.html
klcc report on our plein air show