Education
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, 1995-2000; concentrated in painting in Gerry Bergstein’s studio as well as studying painting with Kurt Kauper, Ron Rizzi, Julie Graham, and Maria Magdalenga Compos Pons; and in video art with Mary Ellen Strom; Diploma in Studio Art 2000
Northeastern University School of Law, J.D. 1974
Harvard College, B.A. 1970
Background
Following one earlier life as political activist and community organizer, Mr. Margolin spent 30 years as a lawyer representing Native American tribes across the United States, before shifting his focus to developing a full time studio art practice. Since completing the Diploma program at the Museum School in Boston, Mr. Margolin’s studio practice has returned to painting. His current body of work explores the risks of climate change. The first exhibitions of this new series. “Climate Shift” in June of 2019 and “Climate Emergency in May of 2022, were held at the Cape Cod Cultural Center in Yarmouth, MA. His previous bodies of work, “Play of Wakefulness”, “Space of Mind” and “Emptiness and Luminosity”, explored visual language to embody his deep engagement with Buddhist spirituality and philosophy. His Dharma paintings reflect his connection to Dzogchen practice, and he considers himself a student of Dza Kilung Rinpoche, a great Tibetan Dzogchen master. His first solo painting exhibitions were at Galatea Fine Art in Boston’s SOWA Arts District where he also served as volunteer President of this South End artists’ cooperative gallery. In late 2017, Mr. Margolin relocated his studio to Yarmouth, Massachusetts. From the beginning of his public exhibitions, Margolin was committed to making art affordable for the average viewer, priced to be accessible rather than reflecting commercial gallery prices that commonly excluded all but wealthy collectors. In June of 2019, Mr. Margolin’s “Climate Shift” exhibition at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in Yarmouth, MA benefited the Better Future Project of 350.org to support climate activism. In early 2020, Margolin launched the Cape Cod Climate Emergency Initiative, which over the course of 2020-2021 succeeded with the support of 350 Cape Cod and the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative in securing climate emergency declarations in fourteen Cape Cod towns. In the spring of 2023, Mr. Margolin’s “Climate Emergency” exhibition at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod benefited the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative, where he served as a member of the Board of Directors. Margolin helped create the Cape Cod Climate Action Network in 2020 and currently serves as its co-coordinator, and in September of 2023 launched Decarbonize Cape Cod, a Cape Cod Climate Action Network campaign to help Cape residents adopt clean energy solutions to their heating and transportation needs.
Solo Exhibitions:
September 2014: “Emptiness and Luminosity”, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA
October 2016: “Space of Mind”, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA
October 2018: “Play of Wakefulness”, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA
June 2019: “Climate Shift”, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Yarmouth, MA
May-June 2022: “Climate Emergency”, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Yarmouth, MA
Juried Exhibitions:
April 2018: Anywhere But Here, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Yarmouth, MA
June 2014: See the Light, Attleboro Art Museum, Attleboro, MA
February 2014: The Power of the Power of Suggestion, Alpers Fine Art, Andover, MA
October 2012: 66thAnnual Aqueous Open 2012, Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, Third Street Gallery, Carnegie, PA
August 2012: New England Collective III, Third Annual Juried Exhibition, Galatea Fine Arts, Boston, MA