Margarete Bagshaw, a modernist painter and the daughter and granddaughter of noted Native artists, died Thursday following a short illness. She was 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bagshaw is the daughter of artist Helen Hardin and granddaughter of Santa Clara Pueblo artist Pablita Velarde, who became famous for pursuing art at a time when men dominated the craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bagshaw grew up at both of their Albuquerque homes, according to an obituary written by local writer Kate Nelson, and once remarked that her first memory was the smell of fresh paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although her grandmother and mother were artistic icons and landmark figures for Native American women, Bagshaw initially had no interest in becoming an artist until 1990, when she drew a few errant sketches during a bout of insomnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bagshaw\u2019s husband, Dan McGuinness, said he knew his wife\u2019s work before he met her. He started collecting a few of her pieces, and a mutual friend arranged for the two to go to an art opening together. Something clicked, and by 2006 she moved to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to be closer to him, he said. The two spent three years running a recording studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bagshaw was a spiritual person guided by a heightened intuition, according to McGuinness, and \u201cprobably the most magical person that I ever knew.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n