In her art, Maggie Crowley explores class and representations of value through labor. She roots her paintings in the clothing styles of blue-collar jobs by examining her subject’s physicality, attitude, and ingenuity. Raised by a hairdresser and a welder, the languages of cosmetology and ironwork inform both her materials and imagery. Her paintings begin with a body in motion, and as layers build up, the subject gets metabolized through loaded objects that reference labor unions, occupational hazards, and uniforms.

Maggie Crowley was born in 1987 in Ottawa, IL, and lives in Chicago, IL. She received her MFA from the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL (2013), her MA from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL (2011), and her BS in Education from Illinois State University in Normal, IL (2009).

Crowley has exhibited her work at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, IL; the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, IL; Area: Lugar de Proyectos in Caguas in Puerto Rico; and the Cue Foundation in New York City, NY.

Crowley was awarded individual artist grants from the Illinois Arts Council (2022, 2020); a fully-funded residency at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists in Saugatuck, MI (2021); and a Jarislowsky Foundation Emerging Artists award with a fully-funded residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada (2022).