Margaret Kilgallen

American, 1967-2001

Margaret Kilgallen was an American painter, printmaker, and muralist whose work bridged the worlds of folk art, graffiti, and West Coast tradition. Born in Washington, D.C., she earned her BFA in printmaking at Colorado College before relocating to San Francisco. There, the Mission District’s vibrant street culture and hand-painted signage left a lasting imprint on her work, which celebrated the beauty of imperfection and everyday life.

A leading voice of the Bay Area’s Mission School, Kilgallen developed a highly personal aesthetic rooted in material, design, and female empowerment. Her compositions featured strong, stylized women navigating urban and natural environments. Flat planes of color, intentional brushwork, and vintage-inspired lettering gave her paintings a tactile, lived-in quality. Her work reflects deep influences from American folk art and Mexican muralism.

Kilgallen passed away in 2001 from breast cancer, just weeks after the birth of her daughter, leaving behind a body of work that feels both intimate and expansive. She has been the subject of several solo exhibitions, such as the 2002 Whitney Biennial and the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco. Her influence continues to resonate through posthumous retrospectives and among artists who value authenticity and craft.