Interiors, Garden & Architectural Spaces

Magdalen is originally from England and Scotland and moved away as a child growing up internationally, in cultural hubs around the world, including Toronto, Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo and California.  With a father being a landscape painter and international banker, she was exposed to art and architecture from a young age.  

Her passion for art and design, led her to study at Parson’s School of Design, in New York City, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Sculpture.  After graduating in 1988, Magdalen head west to California, with a passion for creating architectural scale art.  There she learned to build houses, working in construction, hammering nails, power tools, tiling and painting decorative faux finishes throughout San Diego.  

Her appreciation of unusual architecture connected her with internationally-known artist, sculptor and builder, James Hubbell.  Hubbell's masterful work combines organically sculptured concrete architecture combined with stained glass windows, carved wood doors, embellishments of brass, copper, wrought iron, and meandering mosaics, all merged within the natural landscapes.  Hubbell’s sculptural architecture is some of California’s finest and most unusual treasures.

Magdalen's work with Hubbell included metalwork, woodwork, mosaic, architectural drafting, designing, model building and most importantly, exploring innovative ways to build with limitless artistic expression.  

See more  HUBBELL IMAGES below.

In the 1990's while working with Hubbell, Magdalen gained further training, studying architectural design and drafting.  She trained again in Architectural Design years later (2012) when computers had come into being, learning visual graphics programs and computer aided drafting. During this time she also studied landscape design and Interior Design, weaving together her multifaceted skills.

By the late 90’s Magdalen moved from hills of San Diego to the beach community of Solana Beach where she designed and created “The Enchanted Fire Rings”.  These were metal drums that she cut artistic designs into the sides, allowing the warmth and design work to illuminate the evening beach soires. 

The Enchanted Fire Rings were inspired by Magdalen’s passion for gathering outdoors to enjoy the night and would bring them to homes and festivals, enchanting the night festivities.  The Fire Rings were varied in sizes and stood on portable bases. Some were tall with intricate designs depicting stories and others were large 6 foot wide "fire lotus flowers" with intricately cut layers of petals. The quintessential symbol of love and life.

The fire rings led to creating wall-hung light mandalas depicting sacred, shamanic themes in complex cut designs. These designs of light would cast beyond the walls, onto the ceiling and floors, creating large immersive sacred artworks and environments from each single wall sconce.

Click to go to LIGHT + METAL GALLERY

By 2005, Magdalen's decorative painting had evolved into large scale murals and sacred mandalas.  Projects involved transforming modern Californian homes into Moroccan like temples while projects In the UK involved spicing up traditional homes and castles of England, Scotland and France with unique and sometimes whimsical artistry. 

Magdalen's instincts to re-envision features such as doorways and fireplaces, into meaningful focal features, invites a sense of sacred living into the environment.

Her Mandalas are visual designs created as a spiritual focus, with unique geometry. The patterns have a complexity where the mind can become lost in the design work and transcend into a more meditative state.  Her designs may appear simple yet are profound in their subtle ability to shift the viewers state of mind into a spiritual unfolding journey.

Click to go to MURALS + MANDALAS GALLERY

With years exploring California, Magdalen spent many nights in the Mojave desert, immersed in its expansiveness.  She found the desert conducive for alternative architecture, creating many projects including organic formed dwellings, a sculpted outdoor staircase and a Buddhist meditation space. 

In 2006 she bought a stunning parcel of land that she named Dragonfly Desert Retreat, in the high desert near Joshua Tree National Park.  For 5 years she and her husband lived, designing and building domes made of wood panels, bolted together, that could be unbolted.  They pioneered their life off-grid, with hand-made water heating and refrigeration system, using the sink water to grow vegetables and living amongst the coyotes, mountain lions and ravens.

The dome ceiling was a magnificent 21 foot architectural mandala, embellished with intricate and sculptural design details. Along with spectacular views across the desert, it became a frequent glamping retreat for travellers from around the world.  With its unique architectural artistry, the guests who visited wrote about how their experiences at Dragonfly changed their lives and was written about in MARK Architectural Magazine (Into the Wild, 2013). 

Click to go to ARCHITECTURE GALLERY

Magdalen continues with her diverse skills as a designer, colour consultant, artist, sculptor and tiler, developing her expertise in space-planning, kitchen and bath design, lighting design, garden and landscape design, computer graphics and CAD.  Added to her technical skills, her hand renderings reflect her talents as a trained fine artist.  A full and rare combination of skills, especially as a female in a male world of builders, tilers, sculptors and architects.

She creates large artworks with her own hands, including a 30 x 30 foot stone floor mosaic, sculptural fireplaces made with cement and can visually transform mediums with fine artistry into ancient roots, clay, stone, turquoise, wood, oxidized copper and more.

Click to go to SCULPTURE GALLERY

During the pandemic , Magdalen explored new arenas and created an online Art gallery, called The WOVEN LOTUS.  The Gallery consists of highly acclaimed & emerging artists, painters and digital artists including, her long time mentor James Hubbell.  Although Hubbell painted most days of his life, he is known more for his outstanding architectural and sculptural achievements.  Magdalen believed his paintings should be seen and chose 30 from his collection to sell as Limited Edition reproductions and originals. 

The Gallery offers original paintings, limited editions, digital art and reproductions of all sizes and mediums by Ingrid Hoffmeister-Hoy, Nikki Moore, John Gage, her father Timothy Boyd-Wilson, James Hubbell and soon will show her own artwork.

Click to go to WOVEN LOTUS ART GALLERY 

While California gave Magdalen many years of freedom to create and explore new horizons, after the pandemic, Magdalen felt a strong pull to return to the land she left as a 7 year old.  

Magdalen continues her international creative decorating and design journey, living in the UK, amongst ancient villages, rivers, woodlands and stone circles, inspired by the old world traditions woven into Britain's evolving culture.