Artist Bio

All About Margaret Guryan Watercolors

Margaret Guryan grew up in Vienna, Virginia just outside of Washington DC.  From a young age, she painted in watercolors alongside her mother who worked in oils.  Her mother taught art classes to children and encouraged Margaret’s interest in art by sharing her many books.  Whenever Margaret had the opportunity she would take drawing, painting, and pottery classes after school or during the summer.  In middle school, she had an excellent art teacher who encouraged his students to enter a pencil drawing competition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Her piece was accepted and included in a temporary exhibit at the Corcoran.

Margaret graduated from UVA with a BS in Architecture.  While at UVA she spent a summer in Vicenza, Italy where she sketched and painted en plain air.  The architecture and landscape of Italy inspired many paintings and pencil drawings, one of which was published in a book titled Architectural Drawing.  Margaret went on to get a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Washington in Seattle where she enjoyed painting scenes of the Pacific Northwest.

Margaret returned to the DC area and became a licensed architect.  Throughout her career she used her watercolor skills to do renderings of her architecture projects.  The rigorous training at UVA helped her with complex perspective drawings and she completed watercolors of street scenes, aerial perspectives, and interiors that were used at client meetings and public presentations.  She also did paintings of houses for private clients.  

Margaret settled in Alexandria, VA, not too far from where she grew up, and had the benefit of being close to the Torpedo Factory, which is home to the Art League School.  There she took classes from Steve Fleming, Gwen Bragg, and Susan Abbott who all influenced her work and provided invaluable instruction.  

Margaret has been a full-time artist since 2021.  She is currently working on a series of paintings of her neighborhood in the Del Ray section of Alexandria.