Margareta Kaukonen was born in 1943 in Lund, Sweden. At 16, she was a layout editor for a young adult magazine called Fick Journal. She met Jorma Kaukonen on a ship traveling from Helsinki to St Petersburg (then Leningrad)
She came to Santa Clara to be with Jorma. They married in 1964. They divorced in 1987. She was a self-taught stand-alone artist in a pre-psychedelic era when art and music were poised to explode. Margareta lived most of her life as an active substance abuser and died of renal failure in a hotel room in San Francisco, California...alone. Before she died, she gifted Vanessa Kaukonen with her entire collection of primarily unseen art and poetry. Vanessa has shown her work in several gallery spaces since the 2000s, donating proceeds to facilities that deal with alcohol and substance treatment in teens.
We have chosen several pieces for this exhibit. However, there are hundreds of unframed paintings, Rapidograph pen and ink drawings, and poetry that can be viewed privately by contacting the gallery. This exhibit can be viewed in person at the gallery during open hours. All pieces will be professionally shipped and insured.
