Tucker chosen as November’s featured artist
BELLA VISTA — The Bella Vista Arts Council will honor Margi Maestri Tucker as the November Artist of the Month at a public reception at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Artist Retreat Center in Bella Vista, located at 13467 Look Out Drive.
Tucker is a Northwest Arkansas native who lived most of her life in Oklahoma and came home in 2007, retiring to Bella Vista in 2016. Her mother and three of her sisters are accomplished artists, and she has drawn or painted her entire life. In 2008, she came to a class in Bella Vista by artist Jack Hetterich and her love of art took a new turn — pastel painting.
After retiring from the real estate industry, she now paints feverishly to catch up for the years that she was so committed to her career. Her dream in retirement was to move to Bella Vista, paint, travel and fish with her husband Rick. She has taken classes and workshops from wellknown pastel artists, including Charles Peer, Kim Casebeer, Judy Howard and Michele Wells.
Tucker has won first-, second- and third-place awards in different categories at the Ozark Pastel Society pastel shows. She won the Mary Ellen Pitts Award in pastels at the Thomas Hart Benton Show in 2016 and was honored with meritorious recognition in the Richison 75 International Competition in 2016. She has also been juried into the annual Illinois River Salon and ANA shows. In 2014, Tucker was honored to be the featured artist for the Earth Ethics Show by the St. Louis Ethical Society of St. Louis, Mo.
Tucker has a great love of nature and the environment and many of her paintings reflect animals or nature. She has a studio in her home and sells to many collectors and friends. For more information, visit her website at margitucker.com.
The Bella Vista Arts Council, an advisory board to the Bella Vista City Council, was created by the Council in February 2016 to help promote the arts in Bella Vista. The board established an artist of the month program, in which selected artists and their work are showcased to the public. Three volunteers serve on the selection committee — Sara Parnell of the Artist Retreat Center; Pearl Williamson, president of Wishing Springs Gallery; and Demara Titzer, curator of several galleries in Bentonville.
The committee chooses each month from qualified artists, who must be residents of Bella Vista and have their work displayed somewhere in the city. Showcased artists will have their work displayed at the Artist Retreat Center and, during the month they are recognized, the work will be on display in a location around the city, such as the Bella Vista Library or Historical Museum.
To submit nominations for consideration, contact Parnell at the Artist Retreat Center, 479-2686463, or email artscouncil @bellavistaar.gov.