Margaret Lazzari is an artist, writer and professor. Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and Europe and she has received several grants, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1995). Lazzari also has worked as a curator and an art critic

Her books have challenged the way art is taught in higher education. Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach (Boston, MA: Cengage/Wadsworth, 3rd Edition 2007) is a global, thematic approach to teaching art appreciation, co-authored with Dona Schlesier. Lazzari wrote The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist (Boston, MA: Cengage/Wadsworth, 2nd Edition, 2002), which is used in over 150 art departments nationally. She also co-authored Art and Design Fundamentals (New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991).

Lazzari is a Professor of Studio Art in the School of Fine Arts of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She received her MFA from Washington University in 1977.