Maggie Standley of Wingspan School & Studio

Maggie Standley is owner, lead educator and principal artist chez Wingspan!

  • Wingspan is part working art atelier, part education hub specializing in the arts and French since 2002. Maggie is an award winning educator having received numerous grants, artist residencies and the City of Burlington Community Youth Arts Award in 2016.

  • Wingspan, in an old bristle brush factory dating from the late 1800’s, is located in Burlington, Vermont, amidst the South-End's burgeoning and vibrant arts, industry and business district. 

  • An avid youth advocate and mentor, Maggie started a youth scholarship program in 2012 called Spread Your Wings! Her youth program has received three grants from Burlington City Arts Community Grant Fund and to date served over 225 kiddos, as well thanks to generous donors! Passionate about equity and leveling the playing field of life for youth, she understands the power of access, belief and courage.

  • With a background in international community development, Maggie spearheads community initiatives from starting an art park/community garden to leading large scale community murals. Her largest mural to date is 2,000 sq ft in Roosevelt Park. Commissioned by the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington, where she collaborated with staff, other artists and worked with a cadre of teen assistants on a job training program.

  • She participated in San Juan Puerto Rico’s vibrant Santurce es Ley art and music festival in 2016 with artist, Anne Campbell of the Catamount Art Center, and together they are the Chica’s MA. Her first mural was painted in Buea, Cameroon, while pursuing graduate studies.

  • Maggie’s professional experience in faux finishing and murals includes apprenticing with some of the finest companies such as Evergreene Painting Studios, NY and Warnock Studios, WDC. 

  • In 1992, when surprisingly earning an Artist-in- Residence spot at Glen Echol Park, MD, she began delving into painting and teaching art. Maggie was commissioned to do an original Vermont landscape oil painting for Senator Patrick Leahy and is known for large, colorful abstract expressionist paintings as well. One of her earliest exhibits occurred at The Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C.

  • The Myrtle Street Community Avant Garden combines her work in community development, nature, art and education. The founding of the Avant Garden, in 2008, set a precedent in Burlington by turning private space into public space with a Conservation Legacy Program grant.

  • Maggie first picked up a paintbrush in 1987 after spending two years studying in Paris, France at La Sorbonne and L’Institut D’Etudes Politique. She returned to Trinity University in San Antonio, TX and enrolled in her first painting class during her last year of college. She was hooked, but continued her initial career track of International Relations for several years in Washington D.C. and Yaounde, Cameroon for a year of study and work in community development on a Rotary Graduate Scholarship.