About the Artist
After a long and successful design career, Maribeth McGinley has finally returned to her first love, painting in watercolor!
Graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from world renowned Art Center College of Design, Maribeth was an accomplished graphic designer and creative director for both the corporate world and the entertainment industry. She began her dynamic career at Walt Disney Productions and moved to a few prominent Los Angeles firms before opening her own flourishing design studio.
Her professional reputation brought her to national attention, and in 2002, Maribeth Walton McGinley was appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve a six-year term as a Member of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board for the National Endowment for the Arts. She spent the following decade serving as an arts advocate, both at home and abroad, focusing much of her effort on underserved communities.
After a move from California to Washington, DC, Maribeth finally began painting again in 2017, experimenting with a variety of mediums and techniques, attempting to explore numerous pent-up ideas that had accumulated over several decades. Of the assorted artistic works created during the next few years, only one small watercolor truly captured her imagination; a wispy, effervescent image in a tranquil mixture of blues that hinted at the presence of three thinly veiled angels.
It was the inspiration of that singular piece, now titled Genesis, that in 2020 became the foundational influence for a prolific collection of paintings. Replicating the same color palette and technique, Maribeth first tried to create other angels, looking for their shapes in the folds and warps of large sheets of watercolor paper, sometimes with magnificent results and other times looking terribly contrived. However, it was only when she abandoned her own objectives and desired results, accepting whatever image appeared, that she began to produce the most compelling work.
With a limited palette, reminiscent of the colors of the sea, and billowing shapes, resembling the clouds of the sky, there is an ethereal quality about her work that captivates observers, drawing them closer, enticing them to look deeper, and study the imagery further. A casual glance suggests these are simply beautiful abstract paintings, but when examined more fully, diverse figures begin to appear.
When understanding her process, and considering the results, this collection evokes a profound sense of awe and wonder, inferring the sacred. Hesitating to call these works her own, Maribeth recognizes that there is truly a divine attribute about this body of work that can only be explained as an intervening power of the supernatural. After all, how is it that countless hallowed impressions emerge from pools of paint without any preconceived planning or intent?
Working in the sanctuary of her Washington, DC studio, Maribeth McGinley did not set out to paint spiritual images of angels and apparitions. If asked, she will readily admit to her lifelong desire to paint “en plein aire” in the style of the early California Impressionists. Fortunately, God had a different plan!
