About The Artist

I was born on Oct. 28, 1965 in Regina, Saskatchewan. When I was eight years old we moved to B.C. This was a new and exciting adventure for me because I have always loved the mountains.

From birth it was discovered that I had an under-developed optic nerve. I am blind in one eye and have about 10% of my vision in the other (20/200). I am registered with the C.N.I.B. as legally blind. However, I do not consider my impairment a disability.

With the use of basic visual aids I was able to attend regular public school. As time went by, I discovered that these same visual aids enabled me to create more detailed drawings. This opened a whole new doorway for me and dramatically improved the quality of my work.

As far back As I can remember, I have always enjoyed drawing. I have no formal training other than the art classes that I took while attending public school. My art was just a hobby that I kept to myself. Occasionally, I would show my drawings to family and friends.

In 1990, my parents (Roy & Margaret Schmaltz, Creston, B.C.) gathered up some of my forgotten art work and asked me to put prices on them. This was very difficult, how do you put a price on something that you love? They displayed my work at a local craft fair and to my surprise a lot of people enjoyed it. I even sold a couple of pieces.

When I returned to Creston, my Uncle B. (Thomas Slattery) introduced me to many people in the artistic community. My art gained more recognition through articles in the local paper and other publications as well as displays in various businesses.

My father is German and my mother is Lakota (Sioux), so I consider myself fortunate to have grown up with two very diverse cultures. Many people have told me that these cultures are evident in my drawings.

My grandma, Christina Okute Sica (Sioux) lived with us for many years, giving me a lot of exposure to my native heritage. Before she passed away my grandma gave me her native name White Swallow Woman . It is a great honor for me to associate her name with my work.

I consider my art work a gift from God. I will always be thankful that I can share it with others. I thank those mentioned, my husband David, and many others for the years of support and encouragement that they have given me. The beauty of interaction is that we can all learn things about ourselves and others. It is important to remember that we all have a gift to share with each other.

To read more about Margaux's visual impairment visit
Living With A Visual Impairment

I was going to put this on my ‘Living With A Visual Impairment’ page but I thought that I would put it here instead because I want to make sure that people read this.

Since I have started associating my visual impairment with my artwork I have found that most people are quite intrigued. I have had some negative comments, there are those individuals who feel that I am using my visual impairment as a gimmick to promote my art or draw attention to myself. Well this couldn’t be further from the truth.

For years I was very shy and ashamed of my eyesight and absolutely didn’t associate it with my artwork. As I mentioned in my biography I really wanted people to just like my work for what it was. With the prompting of the person (Jeff) who owned the first gallery to display my work, I reluctantly started to explain to people how I draw and included it in my biography. At first this wasn’t easy because it really made me feel like a sideshow freak. However, people’s reactions surprised me everyone seemed so inspired by something that I was ashamed of. Even though I tried to explain how bad my eyesight was my artwork is so detailed that people really didn’t understand just how blind I am. I absolutely need the strong magnifying glass to draw. In fact I couldn’t do my artwork without it. I can see the whole drawing when I look at it with my naked eye but I can’t see the real detail. It is not out of focus it is just too small to see. On many occasions people have approached both my husband David and my parents and say, are you sure Margaux is actually blind?

Johanna from Park Studio gallery, where I was displaying my art suggested that I do art demonstrations. This was VERY difficult for me to do because I have never drawn in front of anyone but it was the only way to show people how I draw. I also really hate to use visual aids in front of people. I know that it is just a stupid vanity thing and I am trying to get over this. It took me a long time to actually get up the nerve to do an art demonstration at the gallery. There were lots of tears and I had to swallow my stupid pride. I felt like I was going to be center ring at a circus, “Come one come all and see the blind girl draw!” I know this sounds silly but that is the way I felt. I finally got up the courage to do it and a lot of people watched me draw. It wasn’t so bad having all the people stand there and watch me work. I am very focused when I draw, my art requires so much concentration that it was like they weren’t even there. I think more people have a better understanding of how I draw and it is also good therapy for me.

As for those individuals who think that I am doing this as a gimmick well I guess they have the right to think what they want. However, in thinking this way they are completely missing the point as to why I am doing this. I want to educate and inspire people. I want people to look within themselves and discover their own talents. I want others to realize that people with disabilities are just people.

For years I had no self-confidence. When it came time to move out on my own I was absolutely terrified because I had no idea what I was going to do for the rest of my life or if I could even do anything. I didn’t graduate and thought that I was a big nothing who would spend the rest of her life on welfare…YIKES!!! There was actually a point when I seriously considered ending my life. This is something that I haven’t really shared with anyone until now. It took many years but things have turned around for me and I have discovered a great deal about myself. So I figure the advice I can give is, rather then having someone else tell you what your limitations and abilities are I want you to find these things out for yourself. You might be completely surprised at what you can do when you put your mind to it!

In 2002 my husband David and I decided the best way to get more exposure for my artwork was via the Internet. So we shopped around for a Webmaster and were surprised at how much it would cost to get a website designed for us. David and I both enjoy expressing our creativity and learning new things and decided that it was time to learn how to design our own website.

David started to study HTML code through books as well as on the Internet. We purchased a digital camera and took photos of all my artwork. Our websites humble beginnings started with four pages, one page for my biography and three pages for my galleries.

As time passed we learned more and the site grew and the traffic increased. In my late twenties, I was trained to use Corel Draw when I worked for a design house as a graphic artist and ad designer. Now I use Corel Draw to design all the images that you see on the site today

Our humble little site has now grown to over thirty pages and will continue to grow. David has started teaching me the HTML language and I have been continuing work on the site myself! I really enjoy working on the website it is truly a labor of love. Sharing my work and stories with everyone on the World Wide Web is a great deal of fun! I have also made some really great friends via my website!

Thank you David for being such a wonderful and supportive husband and also a very (After reading this my husband told me to add an extra VERY! Come on now sweetie i'm not that bad!) patient teacher!