Margaret Hicks

Margaret Turner Hicks (September 28, 1923 – August 3, 2006) was a world-renowned producer and supporter of Miniature Art.

Favoring representational art, Hicks painted landscapes and still lifes and the occasional portrait, using small brushes and a magnifying glass to achieve a high level of detail in paintings that were often just 2 to 4 inches wide.

Hicks often lectured on Miniature Art and was President of the Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington from 1983 to 1988. In 1993 she published a miniature book on the topic — measuring just 2 7/8 by 2 5/8 inches — called Art in Miniature. As a magpie of miniature books, Hicks "felt it would make a lot of sense" to complete a miniature book upon art in miniature. The LP covers small-scale painting, sculpture, and engraving. All proceeds from the autograph album went to a scholarship program for Washington DC high school students planning to psychotherapy art.

Hicks' paintings and supplementary artwork were exhibited in Washington and Baltimore, London, Japan, and at the U.S. Embassy in Gambia. Several of her pieces were among the beyond 500 works in an international exhibition of miniature art she helped organize at the Smithsonian Institution's S. Dillon Ripley Center in 2004.

Margaret Turner Hicks was born in Philadelphia. She graduated from Temple University and went on to assay art in Germany even if her husband (now-retired Army Col. Stanford R. Hicks) was posted overseas. She after that taught elementary scholarly and tutored soldiers before becoming a full-time artiste in 1968, a year after the couple contracted in Washington, DC.

Hicks was an swift leader in her community: President of The American Art League in Washington, member of the Arts club of Washington, Arts for Aging, The Miniature Art Society of Washington and additional arts and civic groups. In auxiliary to miniature art, she in addition to made jewelry and clothing; her sweaters were known to be especially elaborate. She died of cancer on August 3, 2006.

1. Washington Post Obituary (free registration required)