About Megan
Megan Shope (b. 1979, West Virginia) is a mixed media artist based in Pittsburgh, PA, whose work explores themes of identity, motherhood, and caregiving through collage, soft sculpture, and assemblage. Her artistic practice emerged as a deeply personal response to her mother’s brain injury, becoming a medium for processing grief, change, and loss. Shope’s work layers and weaves together fragments of life—both beautiful and challenging—uncovering the complex intersections of care and resilience.
Before dedicating herself to art, Shope worked professionally in the field of public health, shaping her understanding of human connection and wellbeing. She continues this pursuit as the outreach coordinator and teaching artist for Creative Citizen Studios (CCS), a non-profit supporting artists with intellectual and physical disabilities. Megan lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and three children, creating from her home studio. Her work can be found at www.meganshopeart.com.
Artist Statement
My work speaks to how the intricacies of layered forms come together to reveal something new and transformative- with found objects and paper often bearing no resemblance to their former selves. I use collage, painting, hand sewing, and sculpture to pair my own marks and patterns with texture and color. My mixed media pieces are sourced with materials from my local Buy Nothing group, found objects, and my robust collection of artifacts and ephemera from family life. Themes of identity. motherhood, and caregiving organically make their way into my work.
The forms I create are amorphous and somewhat ambiguous; familiar, but also curious. These pieces are created at the intersection of care and resilience, with a dose of grief and loss. Are they stepping stones, pancakes, topographical maps, or pincushions? Is there value in the definition or the ambiguity? In their complex layers, I seek to hold space and celebrate what was, while looking to what will be. My assemblages express the reality that life is full of “both/and”; good and hard, heavy and light- nuance abounds. My process reframes the somewhat mundane, somewhat poignant detritus of life with new purpose and narrative, as I ask deeper questions without the need to force resolution.