ANITA MARGRILL | Author/Illustrator
About the Author/Illustrator
ANITA MARGRILL is an environmental artist, educator, and retired, licensed architect who has been drawing upon environmental issues for many decades. As editor of energy magazine, published in the 1970s and 1980s, she made her first trip to the western United States, tracing the Colorado River from its robust source to its exit in Mexico as a small stream, due to water allotments allowed to the river’s border states. Her research resulted in the article “Western Water for Energy Development.” Her other articles for the magazine included “Solar Energy: An Industry in Search of a Market.”
Inspired in the 1970s by the controlled irrigation of rural Long Island, New York potato fields, she began her public art career by developing metered water sculptures connected to New York City fire hydrants. These works were intended both for children’s city play streets and for the conservation of water pressure for the fire department to fight fires. Since then, blending the interdisciplinary relationship between art, architecture, and technology, she has worked with municipalities throughout the United States to create interactive and participatory works involving water, solar, and wind that express communities' concerns for the environment.
Her work has been supported by a National Endowment Interarts Grant (funded through the Night Fire Theater Company), the New York Foundation, and an Art-in-Public Buildings Award from the California Arts Council, among others. Margrill has had the honor of being the winner of numerous jurried art competitions resulting in many gallery and museum exhibitions of her work. She also holds U.S. patents related to water distribution and photovoltaic systems.
Anita studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art, received her B.A. from Bennington College, and B. Architecture from City University of New York School of Architecture, with a focus on architecture and environmental studies. She also holds an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from San Francisco State University.
Her book, The Climate Change Puzzle, is her exploration of graphic art as another powerful medium for public engagement, expressing her long-standing environmental concerns about climate change