About

Meagan Stirling received her MFA degree at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and her BA from Whitworth University. Her current work is interested in perceptions of risk and safety and caregiving. She enjoys working in multiple mediums, including printmaking, installation, and performance. Recent exhibitions include Matter + Spirit, a traveling exhibition to 11 universities and colleges; Whitworth University Oliver Gallery in Spokane, Washington; and Community Arts Workshop and Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara, California. Her artwork has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. 

Stirling is a co-founder of Print Power, a local Santa Barbara organization that offers screen printing workshops for trauma survivors. Through these workshops, participants are empowered to create visual messages that may be too difficult to verbalize, and to process their experiences in supportive, community-driven ways.

Stirling currently lives in Santa Barbara, California where she is an Associate Professor of Art at Westmont College. 

Artist Statement

My artwork examines the complex relationship between safety and risk, connecting my personal experiences with broader societal issues. Through the use of materials and imagery, I raise questions about how individuals confront this uncertainty and navigate environments shaped both by comfort and the illusion of safety. Working primarily within the medium of printmaking, my prints investigate contradictions within American communities, revealing how the idea of safety has become embedded in the national psyche. Although communities are often managed by rigid expectations and carefully designed structures, the inflated promise of safety is undermined by isolation, chance, and violence—realities to which everyone is vulnerable.

Contact information

meaganstirling@gmail.com

Instagram: @meaganstirling