She is known for juxtaposing landscapes, historical characters, and mythical figures from New Zealand and from ancient Greece, mixing the realism of 19th-century colonial prints with the more stylized designs of Greek black-figure pottery and Māori wood carvings.
She earned a BFA at the University of Canterbury in 1984, and has also studied at the Tamarind Institute in the US.
[5] Maguire's early printmaking work included figures, architectural elements, and (by the late 1990s) ancient Greek culture.
[5] The prints of her work on New Zealand and ancient Greece are organized into series, including: In 2015 she shifted media with her series Feats, Pursuits & Endless Toil of seven painted door panels and four etchings, continuing the mixture of Greek and New Zealand themes.
The works in this series were partly inspired by Maguire's experiences living through the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.