Today we’d like to introduce you to Margaret Chiaro.
Hi Margaret, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in York, Pennsylvania. My parents provided a loving and supportive home and taught me to value integrity, work ethic, kindness, and strength. My mother was a teacher and my father an artist, furniture designer, and real estate agent. They were both the first generation to attend college in their families and worked very hard to provide my brother and me the ability to explore different interests and encouraged us to pursue being our best self in anything we tried.
For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessed with making art. My father would assist me in turning a project in any school subject into an artistic endeavor, such as sculpting a large clay dolphin and casting it in plaster. My parents took us on trips to every free art museum near us. My creativity and imagination were the driving force in everything I did.
I did not seriously consider pursuing art as a career until it came time to apply for college. I have had a job since the age of 14 and learned how hard it was to make a living. Being an artist had always been my dream, but it seemed to be just that, a dream.
When it came time to applying and choosing a college, my amazing family believed in me enough to encourage my pursuit of a career in the arts. I went on to major in the arts and attain my cum laude BFA from the University of Arizona and then my MFA from the New York Academy of Art.
I am now a working artist and art instructor thanks to my work ethic, stubbornness, and ability to reach for my dreams, which are all due to my amazing parents.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would not say my life has been a smooth road. I have worked really hard to get to a fairly stable place working as an artist and art instructor. Throughout college and for years after, I worked many different jobs… in the food service industry, data entry, gallery management, etc. to pay the bills while trying build my portfolio and seek exhibition opportunities.
It often feels like trying to lead two lives simultaneously. There is the side of me that has to work hard, pay bills, and simply survive, and the other, which uses every spare second to expand my personal art career.
The logistics is just one component…
Pursuing a career in art can be intimidating. There are so many choices one can make between mediums, subject matters, and techniques. The studio process is like inventing a language and hoping it can be translated universally. After years of experimenting with every media I could get my hands on, exploring a multitude of techniques, and gaining enough introspection to know what I want to say with my artwork, I have found my pictorial language.
There is always struggle, but that simply reminds me how grateful I am to my family, friends, collectors, and students. Their love and support feeds my soul and every minute making and sharing my art is a blessing.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I use figurative painting to invite the viewer to enter a unique world or moment. I love duality and opposition, balance over symmetry, and the idea of shared energy. Spending hundreds of hours on a single piece, painting everything by hand in traditional techniques, I obsessively render my subjects, caught in moments when they are open and expressive. Through my chosen genre, Magical Realism, I fuse reality with imagination to create a visceral new “world” for the subject to dwell in and the viewer to observe.
I am currently working on a series called “Nephology” that depicts people living in cloudscapes. “Cloud 9” is a sub-series portraying the inner child. “Head in the Clouds”, another sub-series, dabbles in psychological metaphors.
This body of work is still expanding, but I refuse to be boxed in to a single theme. While Magical Realism is my genre, each collection stands alone. I dive deep into a concept, pour my heart into it, and at some point there is an end.
I think about my work like literature. There might be a sequel, a prequel, or maybe a long series, but at some point, I will start anew with concept, characters, and ideas that will allow my work to continue to evolve.
What’s next?
I have learned over the years to have hopes and dreams, but not expectations. Most of my successes have been totally unplanned. The more I focus on the process of painting, being kind to others, and being open to new opportunities, the better my life has become.
In the near future, I am having a solo exhibition at Covet Gallery in Oceanside, CA in May 2026. I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to share my Nephology collection and to work with such fabulous gallery.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.margaretchiaro.com
- Instagram: @margaretchiaro
- Facebook: @machiaroart
Image Credits
Studio Photo by Priscilla Iezzi
