Marian Maguire
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Born in Christchurch in 1962, Marian Maguire attended Ilam, the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, graduating with adegree in Printmaking in 1984. Following her formal training, Maguire went on to complete the Professional Printer Trainer Programme at the Tamarind Institute of Lithography in Albuquerque, U.S.A in 1986. Maguire returned to Christchurch in 1987 to open Limeworks Lithography Studio and was later accepted as the 1991 artist-in-residence at the Otago Polytechnic, an award funded by QEII Arts Council. In 1998 she received an Arts Excellence Award from the Canterbury Community Trust. She has participated regularly in solo and group exhibitions throughout New Zealand, notably at the McDougall Art Annex with her show &ldquo Library Travelling&ldquo .
Maguire's subjects range across an imaginary world populated with motifs and emblems drawn from various influences. Maguire's early work dealt primarily with the human body and its relationship to mythological models and psychological states, before gradually shifting focus to architectural ideassymbolised in gates, bridges, and the floor plans of cathedrals a style that recalled Classical Greek and Renaissance notions of the ideal. More recent work has incorporated imageryfrom early Greek vases into a modernist painting form with specific interest in the friction between the highly stylised elegance ofvase design and the brutality of the subject matter.
Maguire currently operates Paper Graphica, a professional printmaking studio in Christchurch renowned for the quality of its work and the calibre of artists and printmakers Maguire attracts. Her work is held in many public and private collections across thecountry, including the National Library and the Dunedin Public ArtGallery's permanent collection.