She was a significant contributor to the development of the Latin American art market of South Florida as a leading figure in the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County public library systems.
[4] Margarita and her brother attended the Ruston Academy for their education, taking classes in both English and Spanish and also learning French.
That same year, at the age of 21, Cano worked on the Cuban television program “Las Toallas Antex,” a trivia game show, as a panelist who was tested by answering audience questions.
Her brother, Rafael Fernandez, later became the Chief Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Clark Art Institute in Williams College of Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Following her mother's death, a close relative was appointed by the Castro government as director of the National Library and Margarita became her personal assistant.
On October 17, 1962, the Cano family was able to secure safe passage out of Cuba and arrived in Miami where they joined the growing Cuban exile community there.
[12] Pop artist Lowell Nesbitt was commissioned to paint the exterior of the Art Mobile, for which he created an original design featuring tropical flowers and black zebra stripes.
[17] At the conclusion of the event, the domino block artworks were then auctioned off on the steps of the courthouse with 80% of the proceeds going to the artists and the remaining 20% raised funds for the new art center.
In 1983 Cano curated the high-profile Christo and Jeanne Claude exhibition Surrounded Islands through the Miami Public Library.
[3] The exhibition marked the end of the installation period of the Biscayne Bay environmental work and featured drawing of the concept as well as the renowned pink fabric used, which would be ultimately donated to the Library System's Vasari Project archives that Cano co-founded.
[19] Thirty five years later, the project was the focus of the 2018 exhibition and film Christo and Jean-Claude: Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980-83, A Documentary Exhibition in the Perez Art Museum Miami, for which Christo returned to attend the opening and give a lecture in support of the retrospective.
[20] The exhibition was curated by Giulio V. Blanc and feature nine prominent emerging Cuban artist: Juan González, Emilio Falero, Humberto Calzada, Cesar Trasobares, Maria Brito, Fernando García, Carlos Macia, Mario Bencomo, and Pablo Cano, Margarita's son.
[25] In 2001, Cano co-founded the Miami-Dade Public Library System's Vasari Project with Kohen and Young to archive the development of visual arts in the area from 1945 to the present.
[28][12] Her style often incorporated Byzantine-inspired religious imagery, as well as elements from whimsical medieval fairy tales and illuminated manuscripts.
[7] Cano often produced detailed mixed media miniature works that range from icon-like art of saints to storybooks and painted tiles.
[7] Her other influences include the work of Lucas Cranach, Hieronymus Bosch, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and American folk art portraits.
[citation needed] In 2019, the City of North Miami Florida passed a Proclamation in declaring September 24, 2019 “Margarita Cano Day” in recognition of her career and impact.
This heightened visibility resulted in coverage of the exhibition by The New York Times, which listed it as a Miami Art Week Pick.
[44] A piece from her Virgen de la Caridad series was accepted into library’s permanent collection, which also features works by Salvador Dalí, Dale Chihuly, Peter Max, and Pedro Hernandez.
Her interviews have been included on the Smithsonian Archives of American Art as well as the book Ninety Miles and a Lifetime Away: Memories of Early Cuban Exiles.
[49] Her brother, Rafael Fernandez, was the Chief Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Clark Art Institute in Williams College of Williamstown, Massachusetts.