School of Art alumni are remembering Professor Emerita Bailey “Peggy” Doogan as the University of Arizona Museum of Art celebrates the late artist with an exhibition that highlights her life’s work.
In “Bailey Doogan: Ways of Seeing,” on view until April 4, 2026, 80 selections from each phase of Doogan’s career are being displayed together for the first time, highlighting her artistic processes and evolution.
After obtaining a BFA in Illustration from the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Doogan began her career as a graphic designer. Among her most well-known designs is the Morton Salt Girl, “Mortie,” an iconic symbol of the brand that remains mostly unchanged today — and one that the artist later reimagined in the large pastel drawing, Pour It On (1998). Her early work shows the influence of her design background, as well as the pressures she faced as a woman in a largely male-dominated industry.
In 1969, Doogan moved to Tucson to teach graphic design at the University of Arizona. She was promoted to Professor of Design, Painting and Drawing in 1982 after receiving her Master’s in Animated Film from UCLA. Much of Doogan’s 1980s work features bright colors and cartoon-like figures as seen in If You Can Scream Loud Enough You Get Hopp’in Mad (1982).
At the end of the decade she began creating her signature works focused on the human body. Detailed and visceral, these drawings and paintings interrogate traditional artistic conventions of female beauty by centering the aging female body, a subject which has been largely avoided in Western art and popular culture.
In works like RIB (1988-1989) and Self-Exam (2003-2005), Doogan explained she was not aiming to depict “The Nude” or “The Figure.” Rather, “I deal with the real body,” she said. “Our bodies are diaries of our experience. Whatever happens to us is recorded there: wrinkles, scars, the way we stand. That specificity fascinates me. I think it’s beautiful.” Doogan often painted her own body at a monumental size and in great detail, drawing attention to aspects of the female form that society often shies away from.
Doogan retired from the School of Art in 1999 and became a professor emerita of Painting and Drawing. She remained a vital part of Tucson’s arts community and a driving force in the downtown arts scene before her death in July 2022 at age 80.
“With powerful imagery, combining bite and humor, she called out sexism and misogyny in academia as well as in the Tucson art community and the art world,” School of Art Professor Ellen McMahon said in the school’s website obituary for Doogan. McMahon took three classes from Doogan while a graduate student at the University of Arizona.
Other former students remembered Doogan as the UAMA exhibition opened on Jan. 17:
Eve Calderaro
BFA ’98, Studio Art
Art teacher, K-8, New Jersey
Bailey was a painting professor during my time as an art student at UA and I took one of her classes. I remember her very distinctly. She was sharp, sassy and undeniably talented. Her work wasn’t easy to look at and I think that was very much the point. She wasn’t easy … or afraid of being honest in her work and in life.
She told us about designing the Salty Girl logo in her early graphic design days. To this day, I keep a Salty Girl label pinned at my desk…in my art class where I am an Art teacher myself, K-8 public school in New Jersey. She made us get custom sheets of glass as our palettes for oil painting and she always told us how she liked the empty jars from her martini olives to clean her brushes.
As an artist, I take these little pieces with me on the journey and I’m grateful to have had exposure to someone like Peggy Bailey Doogan. I can think of other teachers who were more likeable or supportive in general, but there was a motivating factor and daring that came from Bailey. She was staring you down and not taking anyone’s excuses. Challenge accepted, thank you, for being you, exactly as you were. RIP and I’m so happy to see your life’s work recognized.
Chris Carls
MFA ’98, Studio Art
Art Director, Cirrus Visual, Tucson
Margaret Bailey “Peggy” Doogan is most famously known as the designer of the Morton Salt Girl, but I remember her as an incredible painter and teacher. She was on my Masters of Fine Arts panel and I had a few classes with her. I was her assistant in the Advanced Painting class my final year, and was also her intern for a summer at the Anderson Ranch Arts School in Snowmass, Colorado. I even worked around her house, helping with various projects. After graduation, I’d visit and take her out to lunch since she lived close to work.
I loved her straight-forward talk. She was a true badass, and one helluva strong lady that would take no $hit. But she always had a precious smile to share.
My favorite line is when she’d suggest painting for your favorite part: “If you did it once, you can do it again.”
She fought for us young and dumb artists. She dedicated her life to helping us grow. She inspired me to want to teach so many years ago.
Thank you, Peggy! Miss you!
Deb Kahn
BFA ’73
Commercial art, Florida
Bailey Doogan was a major influence in my career as I pursued a major in Commercial Art and a minor in Scientific Illustration.
The memory that stands out the most was the time she stopped to talk with me in the hallway. I don’t remember the details, but I do remember the inspiration. It carried me through my lengthy career in Commercial Art.
I understand the title “Ways of Seeing.” I have become legally blind, but still practice my evolving art.
Tricia Amato
BFA ’86, Studio Art
MA ’07, Art History
tamato design, Phoenix
Peggy, as she was known then, was teaching graphic design and we were so intimidated by her! But she was an amazing teacher, and something she told me has continued to inspire me.
“There are no bad ideas,” she said. “It’s only the execution that can suck.”
So true!
I also remember her telling us that when she interviewed for her academic position, they asked her if she would start crying in front of the class. This was in the late ’60s.
Mark Fina
BFA ’84, Studio Art
Creative Director, New York City
As a graduate, enthusiastic designer, and artist, I can look back fondly and proudly on the inspiration that Professor Doogan provided for me. She challenged me and instilled in me a drive that propels me every day in my career and creative pursuits. She also ignited the idea of inspiring others, which has led me to become a professor myself.
Thank you, Professor Doogan. You have given us all so much and enriched our artistic minds, for that we are forever grateful.
Send us your memories of Professor Emerita Doogan at artinfo@cfa.arizona.edu.
