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Franklin - Local Town Pages

The World as She Sees It Artist Spotlight: Margaret Munson

Artist Margaret Munson

By J.D. O’Gara
If she’s painting, Margaret Munson’s in her happy place.
“I paint the beauty of the world as I see it … with lots of artistic license. The scenes I do a painting of I usually choose because I have an emotional connection to the subject or the place, says Munson. Attracted to nature and water, Munson tries to capture how a scene made her feel. 
In 2008, Munson, who’d been a nurse for 38 years as well as a mother, finally began painting in earnest. Retired, she now had the time to set her artistic side free.

“The Promise of a New Day,” one of Munson’s favorites, she gave as a gift to her pain doctor.

 

She began working for a few years with stained glass, with some of her original artwork displayed at a Newport, RI shop, but when her arthritis began to interfere, Munson began teaching herself the art of watercolor painting. Later, when she joined the Franklin Art Association, a world of additional mediums opened up to her. 
“I started seeing monthly demonstrations by artists that used all different mediums,” she says, “Because I didn’t have an art education, I was using that as an education.” Munson explored photography, not only as an expression of her art, but as reference for her paintings. She dabbled in pastels, enjoying the medium’s more forgiving nature than watercolor. 
“I started attending workshops here and there,” says Munson, calling one particular artist, Jean Rosier-Smith, of Sudbury, “very generous in her teaching.” Weekly classes soon weren’t enough for Munson, who immersed herself in pastel work at home. That work found its way into Franklin Art Association shows, “and gradually, I started winning some ribbons,” says Munson.
Munson is touched most when her paintings give meaning to others. One of her favorites, The Promise of a New Day, featured in an art show, was a 20”x24” sunset with ocean. She chose to give this painting to a cherished pain doctor she’d had for years, wrapping it up. Before she gave it to him, she showed him photos of her works from the show. He pointed out his favorite, not yet knowing it was the one she’d chosen to give him.
Munson, who admired Maryland photographer Debbie Harris Kommalan’s work on social media, was also honored when she requested Munson recreate her photograph of a sunrise as a gift for her husband. That, too, is one of her favorites, entitled, “Moonlight on the Bay.”
“That’s the connection with my art,” says Munson, “I want other people to see the world as beautiful as I see it. That often involves exaggerating the colors.”
That exaggerated color in a wave painting impressed the director of a Foxboro Art Association show at Gillette Stadium so much he took the painting home, later requesting Munson to demonstrate her technique for association members.
Munson was thrilled to sell six pieces during her exhibit at the First Universalist Society of Franklin in early 2024 and to win Best in Show for “Reflections and Water Lilies” at a recent art show at the Norfolk Library in early 2024. “I was blown away,” says Munson, “and one of my photographs in the show received a red ribbon and was bought.”
Munson, the eldest of five, has lived in Franklin since 1993 and has been with her partner, Jack, for 26 years. She is the proud grandmother of three young women, daughters of her only son, whom she sadly lost to suicide in 2014. 
“There was a time, after he died, that I couldn’t paint,” she says, but it heartens her to remember his own connection to and pride in her talent, and how her granddaughters recall how he proudly displayed her artwork. Munson shares her memories of him and her love of creating with her granddaughters.
“During the pandemic, my granddaughter came to stay with us the very first day school was canceled. She stayed 12 weeks,” laughs Munson. Acrylic paint pouring helped them deal with the stress of remote learning, she says.
“We did something every day, and we had so much fun,” says the artist. She continues to pursue abstract paint pouring, enjoying the “very different way of doing art that’s fun and not so serious,” she says. Munson is proud that her granddaughters see her home as one filled with creative fun, with rooms full of colorful art and sewing projects.
“I’ve always enjoyed sewing, and I’m teaching all three girls to sew” she says, proudly.
If you would like to see some of Munson’s work, look for Margaret L. Munson Art on Facebook. You can also check out her Artist Gallery on the Franklin Art Association website, www.franklinart.org .