Margaret Dean has been a professional artist and educator for over five decades. In 1957 she attended Liverpool College of Art, an exceptionally exciting time, fellow students were John Lennon; Stuart Sutcliffe, painter and the 5th Beatle; Mike Kenny, internationally known Sculptor and Head of Sculpture at Goldsmiths College of Art.

More recently Margaret created an extensive series (sixteen works) of paintings based on the life of the Aviator Amy Johnson. A group of works from this series are on show, and they unravel a narrative of the life of Johnson, including her dreams and aspirations, during her epic flight to Australia in 1930.

These demonstrate the artist’s intellectual curiosity with history and science weaving around a romance. Without the sinister edge of the earlier works, and the absence of figures, these works are warm, inhabited and fantastical all at the same time.

After successfully completing her Diploma in Art and Design Margaret spent a year working in Paris at the William Hayter Studio. Followed by a Post Graduate year in Teacher Training at Liverpool University. Margaret continued her teaching career in Wigan working extensively on her abstract exhibition “Alice in Wonderland” which was shown at Keele and the Bluecoat Gallery. The Walker Art Gallery Liverpool made a purchase the same year.

In 1973 Margaret was fortunate to find an exceptional studio space in Bluehayes House which belonged to the internationally known Conservator of Paintings Margaret Watherston.  Watherston handled the collections of the Guggenheim and Whitney Galleries in New York and acted as adviser to a number of New York artists including Rothko. Her main studio was in Times Square, New York but she also ran Bluehayes House in Devon which was used to clean and restore paintings from the dominant painters of the New York School. This stimulating setting became Margaret’s working environment for the next 20 years.