Anna (Contes) Maguire

Anna Maguire (Anna Contes, Anna Contes Maguire), was born February 6 th ,1944 in New York City,
(along with her Brother Nick Contes) to Gus and Argiro Contes, natives of the Island of Ikaria, Greece
(‘where people forget to die’), a natural ‘Blue Zone’ (of our small planet). At an early age, Anna began
drawing and painting, attending William Cullen Bryant High School and the American Art School (1961)
with a painting scholarship. 
She frequently took herself to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturdays, to study classical antiquity,
the great masters and ‘fell for the post-impressionists. Anna majored in Fine Art/Art Education at Pratt
Institute (BFA/1965), and met her Husband/fellow Artist; Douglas James Maguire on the classroom fire
escape, debating over tomato-feta-cheese-sandwiches (married 58 years) prior to her passing (at age 79).
Training in oil, watercolor, (pure pigment) traditional egg tempera, her earliest commissions included
working as a Byzantine/Greek Orthodox iconographer and muralist.
She then attended SUNY New Paltz (M.S./1979), having already taught at Fiorello Laguardia High
School of Music and Art (1970-69), at the Boston University Summer Art Program at Tanglewood
(1973), at The Barlow School (1974-70) where her Daughter/fellow Artist; Alethea Maguire was born
(just over the State line), among other institutions of higher learning, and having completed her Master’s
Degree, she continued, as a Guest Lecturer at SUNY New Paltz.
Certified through the NYS Board of Education, Anna taught at Cairo-Durham High School (for 24 years),
while simultaneously teaching courses such as: ‘Pastel, ‘Pastel-Making, ‘The Figure in Pastel, ‘Drawing
through Color, ‘Drawing the Figure with Color (for 25 years) at the Woodstock School of Art; anchoring
her career as an Artist/Educator, and keeping a professional art studio for 48 years (where she also
formulated her own hand-made, fade proof, non-toxic pastels, and paints).
Awarded an Edwin MacDowell Art Colony Fellowship (in painting), Anna exhibited nationally through
forums such as: The Albright-Knox Art Museum, Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, Art Awareness, Zeuxis,
The Woodstock Framing Gallery, Arts Upstairs, The James Cox Gallery, The Art Society of Kingston,
Mark Gruber Gallery, The Donskoj Gallery, Brik Gallery, Greenkill Gallery, Longyear Gallery, The
Woodstock Byrdcliff Guild, The James Kleinert Gallery, Elena Zang Gallery, and The Woodstock Artists
Association & Museum. An avid traveler capturing still-life, the figure and the landscape, her experiences
abroad in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland and Greece, among other countries, further inspired her
drawings, and paintings with light, color, temperature, climate, and energy. 
She is held in the loving embrace of her extended family members and close friends. Recently involved as
an active member of the Pan-Icarian Foundation, The St. George Greek Orthodox Church Choir, The Free
Range Singers, Art Along the Hudson, Green County Council on the Arts, Dialogues for the Ear and
Eye… she brought grace, joy, peace, generosity, warmth, wit and wisdom to every gathering.
Anna Maguire is survived by her Husband Douglas Maguire, Daughter Alethea Maguire, and Brother
Nick Contes. Her funeral mass/reception will be celebrated on Friday, June 30 th , 2023 at 10 am; at St.
George Greek Orthodox Church, 294 Greenkill Av. Kingston, followed by a Woodstock Artist
Cemetery, 12 Mountainview Ave, Woodstock, NY burial at 1:30pm. Family and Friends will be
received for the wake/viewing on Thursday June 29 th , 2023 at 10:00am at the E. B. Gormley Funeral
Home 87 Main St. Phoenicia.  Please share a special memory, photo, or condolence on Anna's Tribute
Wall at: www.gormleyfuneralhome.com

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