Margaret R. Thompson is a painter living and working in northern New Mexico. Her work explores the intersection of nature, mythology, and the human spirit. Working with oils, wax, sand, ash, mica, earth pigments, and plant materials, she creates layered paintings that reflect a deep relationship with wild, remote landscapes and explore universal truths woven into the framework of our collective species.
Her process is intuitive, led by texture, memory, light, and materials gathered from the land. In each piece, figures dissolve into their surroundings, symbols surface and recede, and natural forms hold equal weight to human ones. Her compositions feel like dream-spaces—part narrative, part elemental—inviting viewers into a quiet, contemplative encounter.
Thompson’s paintings are not meant to shout. They offer something softer: a portal, a mirror, a myth in motion. Through them, she invites others to remember their own connection to the earth, the body, and the mystery that holds them both.
Her work has been included in numerous art fairs and exhibitions, including Art Athina presented by Arusha Gallery, Athens, Greece; Zonamaco solo booth, Red Arrow Gallery, Mexico City, MX; Zonamaco duo booth, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City; CAN, Arusha Gallery, Ibiza, ES; Plural, Duran Mashaal Gallery, Montreal, QC; select shows with Galerist, Istanbul, TR; 1969 Gallery, New York, New York; Wilder Gallery, LAMB Gallery, Arusha Gallery, London, UK; Gallery II, Tel Aviv, IL; Tyger Tyger Gallery, Asheville, NC; Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, TN; Millicent Rogers Museum, El Prado, NM; Smoke The Moon, Santa Fe, NM; My Pet Ram, Santa Barbara, CA and New York, New York; MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City, MX. Last year Margaret completed a solo painting residency in Bruton, England with Arusha Gallery and was highlighted as one of the top 100 Early-Career artists by Artcube in their 2024 Discoveries Report. She has upcoming exhibitions in New York, Ireland, and Istanbul.
C.V.
margaret-thompson.com
margaretthompsonstudio@gmail.com
1990 Born in Washington D.C.
Lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico
EDUCATION
2012 — B.A., International Studies and Visual Arts, Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
SELECT EXHIBITIONS
2025
CAIM, Slane Castle, Ireland, forthcoming September 2025
Group Exhibition, My Pet Ram, New York, New York, forthcoming May 2025
The Cartography of Elsewhere, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City, forthcoming April 2025
Forget-Me-Nots, 1969 Gallery, New York, New York
The Volcano Lover, Galerist, Istanbul, TR
Zonamaco with MAIA Contemporary, International Contemporary Art Fair, Mexico City
Open Sesame!, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City
2024
Sky Mirror (solo), Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, TN, December 2024
Channeling Luchita, Millicent Rogers Museum in partnership with Taos Abstract Artist Collective and the Harwood Museum, El Prado, NM
Low Earth Orbit, Smoke The Moon, Santa Fe, NM
Quintessence, MAIA Contemporary, Mexico City
Contemporary Art Now (CAN) Ibiza with Arusha Gallery, Ibiza, Spain
I Look to the Moon Like a Fellow Traveler, LAMB Gallery, London, UK
Zonamaco (solo booth) with Red Arrow Gallery, International Contemporary Art Fair, Mexico City
Margaret R Thompson, Charlotte Keates and Frida Wannerberger, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Canopy Program Group Exhibition, Studio 9D with New York City Crit Club, New York, New York
2023
The Collective, Visionary Projects at the High Line Nine, New York City
The Moon Belongs to Everyone, Smoke The Moon, Santa Fe, NM
A Closed Door, A Den, Arusha Gallery, Bruton, England
Art Athina with Arusha Gallery, International Contemporary Art Fair of Athens, Greece
Seven Surfaces, Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, TN
Portal, Arusha Gallery, London, UK
Reverdie, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 2023
Eidolon, Tyger Tyger Gallery, Asheville, NC
Secret Gardens, Wilder Gallery, London, UK
Hawthorn and the Feast of Julian, Arusha Gallery at the High Line Nine, New York City
Plural (Papier) Contemporary Art Fair, Duran Mashaal Gallery, Montreal, Canada
Soft, Smoke The Moon, Santa Fe, NM
Homecoming, Gallery II, Private Curation Sharon Golan Art Projects, Tel Aviv, Israel
Divination, Clown School Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2022
Golden Hour, My Pet Ram, Santa Barbara, CA
Regalos, Hecho Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Experimental Art Fest, Artist Abbey, Truth or Consequences, NM
Conversations in Color, Pilgrim’s Contemporary, London, UK
Out of the House, Concept Animals, Austin, TX
Taos Abstract Artist Collective Inaugural Exhibition, Stables Gallery, Taos Center for the Arts, Taos, NM
What’s In The Basket?, Betterday x Abstract Picnic, Santa Fe, NM
Garden Universal, False Cast Gallery, San Diego, CA
Brilliant Universe, The Poetry Yard, Santa Fe, NM
Liminal Realms, Title Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Circuits, Currents New Media Festival 2022, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
Flower Shop, Smoke The Moon Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Open Screen: 17 Wildly Eclectic Short Films & Videos, No Name Cinema, Santa Fe, NM
COP26 Collection Exhibition, Seattle NFT Museum, Seattle, WA
2021
Digital Art for Climate Change, COP26 Gallery, United Nations Climate Change Summit, Glasgow, Scotland
Wonders, BONFIRE Artists In Residence Gallery, Valencia, Spain
World of Co Group Exhibition, World of Co. Artists in Residence Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
2020
Figure It Out, Healdsburg Center for the Arts, Healdsburg, California
In The House, Concept Animals, Austin, Texas
2019
Ephemera, San Francisco Friends Atrium Gallery, San Francisco, California
Blue Day Giddy-Up, Freeverbs Collective, Austin, Texas
Jackknife Artists in Residence Exhibition, Jackknife Studios, Oakland, California
2017
Artists in Residence Group Exhibition, Baltimore County Arts Guild, Baltimore, Maryland
COLLECTIONS
De Woody Collection, New York, USA
Arusha Collection, Edinburgh, UK
Sealy Collection, Alabama, USA
RESIDENCIES + PROGRAMS
2023 — The Canopy Program, Spring Mentorship Intensive, NYC Crit Club, Brooklyn, New York
2022 — NYC Crit Club Visiting Critic Program, Brooklyn, New York
2021 — Bonfire Artist Residency, Valencia, Spain, World of Co Artist Residency, Sofia, Bulgaria
2019 — Jackknife Studios Artist in Residence, Oakland, California
2017 — Baltimore County Arts Guild Artist in Residence, Baltimore, Maryland
PRESS + PUBLICATIONS
2025
5 Standout Shows to See at Small Galleries This January, Artsy, January 2025
Sundays with Luchita: Artist Panel Discussion, Taos Abstract Artist Collective & Millicent Rogers Museum, El Prado, NM, January 2025
2024
Channeling Luchita: A Community Homage at Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos News, November 2024
Margaret Thompson’s Synesthetic Responses to Music and the Natural World, Interview with Curator Claudia Cheng, July 2024
The Guardian: Exhibitions of the Week, Jonathan Jones for The Guardian, February 2024
2023
Five Artists On Our Radar, Artsy Editorial, June 2023
Reverdie | Arusha Gallery, Exhibition Essay by Rosalind Jana, July 2023
Favorite New Works by Emerging Artists: “In The Silent Country Where The Solitary Mind Exists” by Margaret R Thompson, Artsy, June 2023
EIDOLON an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Margaret Thompson + Jacqueline Shatz, Press Release by Curator Mira Girard, Tyger Tyger Gallery, Asheville, NC, June 2023
Hawthorn and the Feast of Julian in conversation with Vicky Mackenzie, Arusha Gallery, May 2023
2022
Margaret Thompson, Featured Contemporary Artist, ArtMaze Magazine Issue 27, London, UK
2021
Artist Feature: Margaret Thompson, Chromeart Magazine, Berlin, Germany, Digital Chroma Agency
Margaret Thompson, Fascinating Work by a Santa Fe Artist, Miriam Sagan, Santa Fe, NM, Miriam’s Well
AWARDS + HONORS
2021
Finalist, DigitalArt4Climate Art Competition in conjunction with the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26)
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I acknowledge and recognize Santa Fe as Oga Po’geh (white shell water place). The city where I live and work, and the land surrounding it, belong to the peoples of Northern and Southern Tewa (Tanos), Taytsúgeh Oweengeh (Tesuque Pueblo), Nambe Pueblo, Jicarilla Apache, Diné (Navajo), Cochiti, Taos, and Hopi Pueblos. They are the rightful stewards of this powerful, remarkable land.