Margaret Best
Botanical Artist and Teacher
Margaret was born and raised in South Africa. Given the setting of abundant indigenous and cultivated plant life, it is not surprising that botanical subjects found its way into her work.
Margaret Best showed an interest in art at an early age. She began painting in earnest as a child under the private tutorage of Betty Clur. After graduating as a teacher in Cape Town, she taught art at Rustenburg School for Girls in Rondebosch, a stone’s throw from the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens.
In the early 80’s after time spent living in Toronto, London, Tehran and Houston, Margaret, her husband, and their young daughter settled in Calgary at the foot of the Canadian Rockies. She completed Fine Arts courses at the University of Calgary and served as a director of the Alberta Crafts Council for 8 years.
While on one of many trips to England in the late 90’s to visit her mother, Margaret discovered the work of contemporary botanical artists. She had finally found her artistic purpose. With a renewed drive to paint, she completed master watercolour classes with Anne Marie Evans and renowned artists Pandora Sellars and Katie Lee. Margaret has been exhibiting and teaching ever since in Canada, the U.S.A. and the U.K.
Margaret is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) and the Botanical Arts Guild of Southern California (BAGSC). Her work can be found in private collections and in the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation of the Carnegie Mellon University.