Margaret Saylor
Artist Margaret Saylor creates highly detailed, textural botanical paintings and drawings using watercolor, graphite and egg tempera on vellum and gesso board. Her art captures the essence of a simple object from nature and presents it as an exquisite jewel in an ethereal setting. Her hope is that the viewer will be entranced and inspired by the subject in the same way she was. She specializes in mushrooms, fungi and woodland plants and combines accurate illustration with the beauty of shape, form, and color.
Margaret earned a BFA in Communications Design at Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA. Trained as a graphic designer, Margaret worked at William Fox Munroe, Inc., a graphic design firm specializing in package design. Her experience as a designer and illustrator provided the solid foundation needed when she turned to fine art in a quest for a hands-on, detail-oriented method of depicting the natural world. Margaret was awarded a certificate in Botanical Art and Illustration, with distinction, from the New York Botanical Garden in June 2013.
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When not painting, Margaret teaches botanical art both online and in person. Venues include Mt Cuba Center, Hockessin, Delaware; GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, Pennsylvania; Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens, Devon, Pennsylvania; and Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has also taught at ASBA Annual Meeting & Conferences and held workshops at the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York; Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, Richmond, Virginia, and Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, Maryland.
Margaret is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, and has exhibited with both groups. Since 2013, she has been the Editor/Designer of The Botanical Artist, the quarterly journal of the American Society of Botanical Artists. She is co-founder of the Contemporary Naturalism Guild of Art, and recently joined the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club.
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EDUCATION
Certificate in Botanical Art and Illustration with distinction, The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY, 2010-2013; B.F.A., Communications Design, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, PA
CAREER
Instructor, Botanical art workshops and techniques classes, in person and online:
Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA; Mt. Cuba Center, Hockessin, DE; Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA; The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY; GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA; Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond, VA; Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD; Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens, Devon, PA; Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, VA; Hershey Gardens, Hershey, PA; Morris Arboretum and Gardens, Philadelphia, PA; ASBA Annual Meeting and Conference, 2013-
Editor/Designer, The Botanical Artist, American Society of Botanical Artists, 2013-current
Freelance graphic designer, painter, and botanical artist, Mt. Penn, PA, 1997-current
Graphic & Package Designer, William Fox Munroe, Inc., Shillington, PA, 1988-1997
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Society of Botanical Artists
Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators
Contemporary Naturalism Guild of Art (Co-founder, 2020)
ARTWORK MEDIA
Watercolor on vellum, egg tempera, graphite
EXHIBITIONS
American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) Small Works exhibitions: 2011 (Boston); 2012 (Chicago Botanic Garden; Anne Marie Carney Award); 2014 (Denver; Best in Show); 2015 (Miami); 2017 (San Mateo, CA); 2018 (St Louis); 2022 (Tarrytown, NY). [Exhibition catalogs]
Keeping It Real: The Art of Plants and Fungi II, Margaret Saylor & Judith Simon, Jenner’s Pond, West Grove, PA, June, 2019
The Philadelphia Flower Show: Exhibition of the Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
Keeping It Real: The Art of Plants and Fungi, Margaret Saylor & Judith Simon, The Highlands, Wyomissing, PA, January, 2018
The Wonders of Nature: Contemporary Botanical Artists Margaret Saylor, Diana Heitzman, Judith Simon, Mala Galleria, Kennett Square, PA, April, 2016
17th Annual International Juried Botanical Art Exhibition, American Society of Botanical Artists and Horticultural Society of New York, New York, NY, 2014 [Exhibition catalogue]
A Living Legacy: Contemporary Botanical Art, Friends Hospital and The Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation & Philadelphia Society of Botanical Illustrators, Philadelphia, PA, June 2012, Best in Show.
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