Megan Wilson

Wilson and collaborator Christopher Statton launched the public project Better Homes & Gardens Today in fall 2014, creating a limited edition of 300 pairs of hand-painted signs with the word “Home” in different languages accompanied by a flower. Wilson and Statton state the project's goals to: “1) Heighten awareness around 'home' and the realities of homelessness; 2) Cultivate a dialog within communities and amongst disparate groups – especially with those in the tech sector who are having a significant impact on housing instability in the Bay Area - about the funding and policy change that is needed to help end homelessness; and 3) To raise money to benefit the Gubbio Project, the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco, and At The Crossroads, organizations working to address homelessness in San Francisco.”[2] "Better Homes & Gardens Today" was included in the exhibition "Street Messages" at Lazarides Gallery in London as part of the launch of the book "Street Messages, edited by Nicholas Ganz.[3]

Better Homes & Gardens Today is an extension of Wilson’s project Better Homes & Gardens from 2000 through which she gave 250 of the signs out for free to the homeless and those facing eviction in San Francisco during the area’s first Dot-com bubble. The project is included in the book San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 75 Years of Looking Forward,[4] and in the exhibition Fertile Ground at the Oakland Museum in 2014/15.

Wilson's social practice work includes acting as a primary organizer and curator of the volunteer-run collective Clarion Alley Mural Project since 1998. She is currently the organization's Board President. As part of the project she’s painted nine murals on the alley: Home/Casa (2000), featured in the book Street Art San Francisco Mission Muralismo edited by Annice Jacoby; CAPITALISM IS OVER! If You Want It (2011), featured in the book Street Messages by Nicholas Ganz and the book Capitalism On Edge by Albena Azmenova; TAX THE RICH (2013), also featured in the books Street Messages and Capitalism On Edge, Viva La Tamale Lady (2013), a collaboration with Jet Martinez, The Wall of Shame & Solutions (2014), a collaboration with Christopher Statton and Mike Reger to call out San Francisco's city government officials on policies impacting the city's changing character, Housing Is A Human Right (2015), Stop The Corporatocracy (2015), Housing Is A Human Right (2016), featured in the book Urban Scrawl: The Written Word in Street Art by Lou Chamberlin and End Apartheid B.D.S. (2018).

In 2015 Wilson and Statton were invited to participate in the Geneng Street Art Project in Yogyakarta Indonesia, organized by Ruang Kelas SD. The theme of the project was "Gemah Ripah Loh Jinawi," which translates to a critique of the unprecedented levels of development and displacement, impacting farmers and the natural resources in the areas surrounding the city of Yogyakarta. Wilson and Statton were two of the 30+ artists to paint murals on the facades of the homes in the farming community of Sewon.[5]

In 2016 Wilson designed and produced the organization's first Website, www.ClarionAlleyMuralProject.org with technical support from Web developer Ari Salomon.[6]

Wilson's mural CAPITALISM IS OVER! If You Want It was used without the artist's permission in the film About Cherry, directed by Stephen Elliott (author), starring Ashley Hinshaw and James Franco.[7]

Wilson co-founded (with Amy Berk, Andy Cox, Cheryl Meeker, Eliza Barrios, and Maw Shein Win) Capitalism Is Over! If Your Want It, a collective of artists from around the world who have created artistic actions in response to the impact of capitalism on the global economy.[8]

Inspired in part by artist David Ireland (artist), Wilson transformed her home from 2004 - 2008 into an installation that she opened up to the public in 2008 that included a series of dinner salons, curated events, and public video projections.[9]

Wilson curated, directed, and raised the funds for Sama-Sama/Together, the first international mural exchange between artists in the United States (San Francisco) and Yogyakarta Indonesia. Wilson co-organized the project with Apotik Komik of Indonesia and Intersection for the Arts. Artists from San Francisco included: Aaron Noble, Alicia McCarthy, Andrew Schoultz, Carolyn Castaño, Carolyn Ryder Cooley, and Wilson. Artists from Indonesia included: Arie Dyanto, Arya Panjalu, Nano Warsono, and Samuel Indratma. The project was the catalyst for the mural and graffiti movement in Yogyakarta. The San Francisco Bay Guardian awarded the project “The Best Transnational Art Undertaking” in 2004.

In 2002/03 Wilson launched a four-part public installation series through which she filled traffic intersections in San Francisco, Tokyo, Yogyakarta and Ubud Indonesia with giant “Technicolor flowers” that passersby were invited to take for free.

In 2017 Wilson was one of six contemporary artists to be featured in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco's exhibition "Flower Power" as part of the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love. Wilson created a series of new "Flower Interruptions" inside the Museum, around the grounds of the Civic Center, San Francisco, and at satellite sites throughout San Francisco, including the Haight neighborhood, the Roxie Theater, Artists' Television Access (ATA), and Clarion Alley Mural Project.[10]

In 2018 Wilson co-curated and co-directed Bangkit/Arise with Nano Warsono and Christopher Statton as part of Clarion Alley Mural Project and in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum (San_Francisco). Bangkit/Arise is the second international exchange and residency between artists in the United States (San Francisco) and Yogyakarta, Indonesia that Wilson has co-produced and participated in. Artists from San Francisco include Christopher Statton, Kelly Ording, Jet Martinez, Shaghayegh Cyrous, Keyvan Shovir, Jose Guerra Awe, and Wilson. Artists from Yogyakarta include: Nano Warsono, Bambang Toko, Ucup, Wedhar Riyadi, Vina Puspita, and Harind Arvati. The project was designed to address critical issues facing global and local communities, such as community development, land use, environmental crises, housing instability, and geopolitical divisions, using art as a point of departure. Community partners included the village of Panggunharjo, the Institut Seni Indonesia, AROC (Arab Resource and Organizing Center), Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco, and SOMCAN (South of Market Community Action Network). [11]

Wilson has created a series of non-traditional mural installations using textiles and quilling at venues including the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Idaho, Thirtyninehotel in Honolulu, HI, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. She is one of the first artists to use quilling as a contemporary art form outside of its historical use as a decorative craft on paper or household objects.[12]

Megan Wilson's "Flower Interruption," Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Civic Center Commons, 2017