The family soon relocated to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Magafan's artistic training occurred at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center under the tutelage of Peppino Mangravite, Boardman Robinson and Frank Mechau, who hired Magafan and her identical twin sister, Jenne Magafan, to assist on mural projects.

[1] Under President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, several programs were created to employ Americans during the Great Depression.

[2] Ethel and her twin sister, Jenne Magafan, became widely known for their murals painted during the Great Depression.

[6] In 1951 Ethel won a Fulbright Scholarship to Greece where she and her husband, Bruce Currie, spent 1951-52.

[5] Her many awards include, among others:[7] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Bureau of Reclamation.