Bio / Statement / CV

MEGHAN OONA CLIFFORD

BIO
Meghan Oona Clifford is a California-based painter whose work explores interconnection, rhythm, and transformation through layered abstraction, visionary portraiture, and interdisciplinary experimentation. Influenced by ancestral fabric traditions, improvisational music culture, and experiences within psychedelic and communal art spaces, her work investigates the unseen threads that connect people, memory, and landscape together.

She descends from a long line of ancestral makers - women who stitched, wove, and shaped the world by hand. Her great-grandmother could often be found at her loom, lost in rhythm. Today, Clifford continues that legacy by using color and form as thread, weaving together paintings with repetition, movement, and meditative process.

After following her dreams of enchanted forests to the Pacific Northwest, Clifford earned her BA from The Evergreen State College and later an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Along the way, she founded an eco-fashion line, curated grassroots exhibitions, and built community in underground art spaces along the West Coast. Deeply shaped by more than three decades within the live music and psychedelic arts community, Clifford’s poster and design work celebrates the collective energy, ritual, and transcendence of shared musical experience.

She now lives and works on a six-acre homestead in Santa Cruz County, CA, with her husband and two miracle children. Each morning begins with a family mantra: “Good morning, we are blessed.”

ARTIST STATEMENT
With ancestral history steeped in textile work, I inherited a love of intricate handiwork. As a fashion designer, I worked with textiles for years. Now I use the language of weaving to evoke a sense of interconnection, with nature and each other, as many threads together become something more.

I weave vibrant colors and organic forms across large-scale canvas, wood, and paper, using a biomorphic, freestyle painting technique. Later, I bring many of the works to life through animation. The interwoven lines recall Celtic knotwork from the illuminated manuscripts of my ancestral homeland, merging the rhythmic logic of weaving with the spiritual geometry of ancient art. My brushstrokes also embody the motion of my great-grandmother’s hands at her loom, so that my paintings feel like woven tapestries of universal fabric.

Each piece holds tension and release, rhythm and flow, movement and intuition. There is a playfulness in the work that evokes the bubble-style graffiti writing I absorbed during my decade living in San Francisco, alongside a mystical quality that aligns it with the Transcendental art movement.

I'm interested in illuminating and activating those little moments of enlightenment we all have - a memory of our interconnection, a release of emotional pain, a glimpse of awareness, or sudden feeling of wholeness.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Meghan Oona Clifford, M.F.A.
b. 1977, Madison WI
Lives and works in Santa Cruz County, CA, USA
www.meghanoonaclifford.com | meghan.oona.clifford@gmail.com 

Education
2007   Master of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (New Genres)

2001   Bachelor of Arts, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA (Interdisciplinary Arts)

1999   University of Wisconsin - Madison, WI (Humanities)


Selected Exhibitions
2026   Hearts and Minds, 1407 Pacific Ave, Downtown Santa Cruz, CA  
2025   Future Forward, Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, CA
2025   Nature Morte, 103 Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
2025   The Cabinet of Secret Art, Carriage House Gallery, Oak Park, IL
2025   Gathering Spells in the Void, 3D Virtual Exhibit, (online), Women United Art Movement, (solo) 
2025   Artist, Mother, Proud & Serious, (online), Women United Art Movement
2024   Art for All, Gallery of Hermosa (GOH), Hermosa Beach, CA
2024   genARTS Experimental Exhibition: Boundaries, New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU), CA
2024   In Flux, Museum of Northern California Art, Chico CA
2023   Aberrant Creativity, Texas A&M University, School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, College Station, TX
2023   What Remains, (online), Visionary Art Collective, New York, NY
2023   Uncertain Certainties, (online), Thrive Together Network, Vancouver, Canada
2023   Representations: collaboration of womxn affecting the future of art and technology, (online), Atlanta, GA
2023   Kaleidoscope, (online), Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022   Shining Our Light: Cosmic Portraits, Flower Bar, Santa Cruz, CA, (solo)
2022   Seeds: The Fertile Void (online), Taking Up Space Global Initiative, Santa Cruz, CA, (solo) 
2022   Onward, Body and Space, (online), San Francisco Artists Alumni, sfartistsalumni(.)com
2022   3rd Annual Powerful Little Things Exhibition, (online), Roaring Artist Gallery, roaringartistgallery(.)com)
2022   Let Me Tell You, Chris White Gallery, Wilmington, DE
2022   Verdant Heart, Fe Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2016   Star Dust: Moments of Enlightenment, Elevation 66, El Cerrito, CA, (solo) 
2014   The Elevated Art of Meghan Oona Clifford, Elevation 66, El Cerrito, CA, (solo) 
2012   Meghan Oona Clifford: The Illuminated Art of Flow, Black Faun Gallery, Eureka, CA, (solo) 
2010   For Love of Spirit, Lipo Lounge, San Francisco, CA, (solo)
2010   Womb of Creation - An Exhibition of Women Visionaries, Tribe 13 Gallery, Ukiah, CA
2010   7th Annual Interdimensional Art Show, Madrone Studios, San Francisco, CA
2010   Suite Jesus, 111 Minna, San Francisco, CA
2009   Exit Strategy, Double Vision Dance Studio, San Francisco, CA
2009   Push On, Tribeca @ The Omni Hotel, Newport News, VA
2009   Art Now’s Circle of Life Show, 1:AM Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009   moreTrees Eco-Fashion Runway Show, Club 6, San Francisco, CA
2009   Veni Vedi Vici, Club 6, San Francisco, CA
2007   MFA Vernissage, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2006   Alternative Spaces, Swell Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2005   Tribe 13’s Interdimensional Art Show, 108 Gallery, Seattle, WA
2001   I Want Burning: Ecstatic Images and Poetry, The Family Tree, Olympia, WA

Grants and Awards
2025   Develop Quick Grant, Arts Council Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz, CA 
2024   Develop Grant, Arts Council Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz, CA 
2023   Quick Grant, (winter cycle), Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2023   Quick Grant, (spring cycle), Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2023   Special Mention, Create Magazine’s Fresh Paint Exhibition, Juried by Margaret Winslow, Curator, Delaware Art Museum 
2022   Quick Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation, San Francisco, CA
2005   Graduate Studies Grant, The San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

Collections
Public: coming soon...
Private: Original works, commissions, and prints are held in private collections throughout the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Japan.

Projects and Public Art
2026   Ancestral Dreaming, (architectural art wrap), Walnut Creek, CA
2011   Most God-Like, (large-scale exhibition backdrop), Outsidelands Music Festival, San Francisco, CA
2010   Yes, Please Draw, (interactive Installation), Lipo Lounge, San Francisco, CA
2010   Great Sky Circles of Freedom, (wall-scale installation), Lipo Lounge, San Francisco, CA
2010   Leaves No Trace, (eco-intervention), Esprit Park, San Francisco, CA
2008   Which Way Is Home? An investigation of seeds, wind, and direction, (eco-intervention), Heron’s Head Park, San Francisco, CA
2009   moreTrees Eco-Fashion Runway Show, Club 6, San Francisco, CA
2008   moreTrees display, (wall-scale digital collage), Pool Tradeshow, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV
2007   Cut: An Exploration of Relationships Broken, (eco-intervention), Esprit Park, San Francisco, CA
2007   Missing! A Deforestation PSA, (eco-intervention), Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA
2005   seedBomber Urban Gardening, (eco-intervention), Dogpatch, San Francisco, CA
2003   I Want Burning, (collective mural project), Family Tree Artist Space, Olympia, WA

Residencies
2023   Residency in Animation Tech, Thrive Together Virtual Art Residency
2023   Winter Virtual Art Residency, Thrive Together Network (TTN) 
2022   Fall Virtual Art Residency, Thrive Together Network (TTN) 
2022   Virtual Art Residency, Artist/Mother Network

Professional Organizations
Netvvrk VVrkshop
Thrive Together Network
Artist/Mother Network
Women United Art Movement

Selected Bibliography and Publications
2025   “Meghan Oona Clifford,” Studio Visit Magazine, volume 53, feature, Boston, MA
2024   Mona Lerch, “Meghan Oona Clifford,” Artist, Mother, Proud & Serious, volume II, art book feature, womenunitedartmovement(.)com, 182-189.
2024   SF Artists Alumni (SFAA), "IN FLUX: Recalibrating the Unknown," Issuu, digital exhibition catalog, March 20. 47.
2024   Mona Lerch, “Meghan Oona Clifford,” Women United Art Magazine, issue VI, art highlight and interview, womenunitedartmovement(.)com, 80-83.
2023   Arc Gallery and Studios, “Kaleidoscope,” Issuu, digital exhibition catalog, April 18. 14.
2023   Lena Snow, Goddess Art Magazine, issue 9, feature, goddessartsmag(.)com. 30.
2023   Procreate Project Archive, highlight, London, UK
2022   Content Magazine, exhibition highlight, San Jose, CA
2022   “Meghan Oona Clifford,” Carve Out Time for Art, community highlight, Baltimore, MD
2020   Pete Mason, "Find Inspiration with the Star Dust Coloring Book," PhanArt: Music, Art, and Community, feature, Albany, NY, Aug. 14
2016   "A Getaway to the Deeper Realms of the Soul - the Must-See Art Work of Meghan Oona," Meditation Talks, feature, Dec. 13
2013, 2017   We’Moon Calendar and Date Book, art highlight, Wolf Creek, OR
2013   "Path to Bliss," The Art People / People Project Magazine, feature, thepeopleproject(.)com
2011   Jon Zimmerman, "Modern Mystics Inspire," Surrender to the Flow Magazine, issue 29, feature, Los Angeles, CA. 48-49.
2008   "Art, Fashion, and Protest," MTV’s Street Team, interview, San Francisco, CA

Publications as Author
2024   Carve Out Time for Art, takeover. Jul 30
2020   Star Dust Adult Coloring Book: Creative art therapy for inspiration, healing, and relaxation, coloring book
2019   Reactivate Your Creative Power, e-book
2017   I Paint Visionary Art to Awaken Your Soul, Bored Panda, feature article
2014   All Praise: Seeing, To Become, photo book
2008   My eyes are your eyes, too: culture creation, modern mysticism, and beyond, art book
2007   Your Eyes Are My Eyes, photo book

Related Work and Teaching Experience
2022   Seeds: The Fertile Void Solo Show Artist Talk, (online)
2014   A Hundred Days of Art Project, Santa Cruz County, CA
2018-2022   The Creative Path Workshop, (online)
2019   You are Good Enough Workshop, (online)
2019   Activate Your Creativity - A Journey, (online)
2018   Rituals for Artists Workshop, (online)
2001-2010   moreTrees clothing company, founder and designer, Olympia, WA, San Diego, CA, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA
2003-04   Sylvan Wisdom Cooperative Art Gallery, Olympia, WA, volunteer member
2000, 2003-04   Liberty Arising Retreat Center, San Diego, CA, volunteer
2000-02   The Family Tree Artist Collective, Olympia, WA, director and curator
1990-95   Madison Children’s Museum, Madison, WI, volunteer