She was descended from the Tewa people of K'apovi or the Kha'p'oo Owinge, Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico.

[4] In 2006, after divorcing and settling her grandmother's estate, she moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands, living with her second husband Dan McGuinness.

On March 19, 2015, Margarete Bagshaw died at the age of 50 after having a stroke and then subsequently being diagnosed with brain cancer.

[18][19] In 2013, The Color of Oil: Paintings by Margarete Bagshaw exhibition was held at the Ellen Noël Art Museum.

[20][21] In 2016, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture honored Bagshaw in an exhibition, along with Josephine Myers-Wapp and Jeri Ah-be-hill.

[22] In 2011 at the annual conference of the Folk Art Society in Santa Fe, Bagshaw spoke about the tension between carrying on Native traditions and her impetus toward more modernist expression.