+11 Artist Margaret Biggs: Homecoming
“A lot of what moves you when you’re young are the same things you find yourself inspired by decades later,” mused artist Margaret Biggs about her art career and its roots in nature. The local artist and world traveler recently returned to Northwest Florida after spending the last year away and is now looking to revitalize her connection with the Gulf Coast.
“There’s an accessibility here that one does not find as readily on the Pacific or Atlantic,” she said of the region; “On those coasts, the scale is so huge in most areas, that it is more difficult to commune with nature in a deeply personal way. This area is much more easily accessible and welcoming, with the warmer Gulf waters and all the bays and bayous. It feeds my soul and is a great inspiration to me.
From quiet coastal meditations to picking flowers in the woods as a child, Biggs attributes much of her creativity to her reverence and wonder of the natural world, especially that of the north Gulf Coast. “A higher power speaks through our intuition,” she said of her predilection towards the natural world as her subject matter. “When the mind is quiet, we are in touch with the soul and the deepest parts of ourselves.”
While away, Biggs and her husband visited Europe, where she viewed some of the continent’s great art collections. She found herself moved and inspired by what she saw.
“In my opinion, fine art is art which speaks from deep within the artist’s soul.”
Margaret Biggs, Artist
Keeping with the passion which she brings to her work, Biggs began having high-definition prints made of her paintings in order to widen access to her work. With consent from the collectors and the help of Chris Abbott of The Stackhouse, a printing service located in Pensacola, Biggs is now able to offer over 40 images — available on canvas and paper that are true to the quality of the original piece.
Returning to Pensacola is the culmination of a personal ‘homecoming journey’ for Biggs. At the time of her 2017 interview with Coastal Lifestyle Magazine, Biggs was living in a duplex on Pensacola Bay and looking after her father as his health declined. “Looking back on the last 6 ½ years, it is a wonder I got anything done,” she said of her time as caretaker and the passing of her father in the spring of 2019. Afterward, she moved from the family home and left the area for a year. With so many strong emotional connections to the region, Biggs said it will take years of creation to process everything in her life that has changed.
“Pine trees and oak trees, palmettos and palms,” she said when asked how she and her husband decided on Navy Point as the location of their new home. The property, located on Bayou Grande — known as ‘Big Bayou’ to locals — embodies the natural subtle beauty from which Biggs derives much of her artistic inspiration.
After many years in other parts of the world, Biggs looks forward to painting in the park just down from her house on Big Bayou, reflecting on her deep connection to the natural world and integrating her present and past into a new body of work.
“I moved on average every three years for the past 40 years; I’m glad to finally be home.”
MARGARET BIGGS FINE ART
All Images Are Available as Prints
htttps://www.margaretbiggs.com
