Michele Johnsen
ARTIST STATEMENT
I’ve considered myself a landscape painter for more than a decade, but my Master’s work has prompted me to inquire into precisely where my work fits into the landscape tradition and why I choose this particular motif as my primary focus.
The description of intimate spaces and sublime vistas are my response to the way the landscape reflects the light and creates patterns on the forms of natural surfaces. Through the use of graduated hues, abstracted mark-making and highly saturated color I am able to articulate a range of emotional responses that speak to aesthetic rationales, and to psychological and spiritual concerns, allowing access into the magic of those special places.
While producing my work, I find myself feeling nostalgic for childhood memories that revolved around sweet spots in the environment. In order to have a greater engagement with these ideas, I invited friends and neighbors to take me to the places that resonate most deeply with them. Along with the pure attachment to aesthetic qualities, my new work reflects an engagement with events that cause a disruption through the hand of man and nature. I have addressed issues concerning “saving place” through an involvement with installation that incorporates constructed sculptural forms, creating an environment that invites viewer interaction. Ultimately, this passion to articulate the landscape appears to be a long and never ending journey that brings attention to both beauty and responsibility.
EDUCATION
BS in Art Education – Granite State College - Summa Cum Laude
MFA – Visual Art – NH Institute of Art
RECENT GROUP & SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Wish List Selection Group Show, Manchester, NH, December 2023
Juried Regional Exhibit 2023, Selections Winner Exhibition, Newport, NH
Do You Believe in Magic, Back Room Gallery/NEK, St. Johnsbury, VT, October 14 - November 18, 2022
Life Cycles, WREN, Bethlehem, NH, 2-person show, July 1 - August 28, 202
Otherworld, Solo Show, Nightshade Contemporary, Littleton, NH April 2 - May 2, 2021
Juried Regional Exhibit 2022, Selections Winner Exhibition, Newport, NH, June 11-26, 2022
Dream and Their Edges, Group Show, I LIKE YOUR WORK online exhibit, February - March 2021
Winter in the Whites, WREN Gallery, group show, February - March, 2021
Dreams and their Edges, Juried on-line Exhibition, Ilikeyourwork Podcast, February - March 2021
Espresso Bueno, Barre, VT, solo show, December – January, 2020
Winners Selection Exhibit, group show, Library Art Center, Newport, NH, January - February, 2020
“Between Land and Sky”, WREN Gallery, Bethlehem, NH, 2-person show, September 2019
Juried Regional Exhibit 2019, Newport, NH
Rochester Performing Art Center, Rochester Museum of Fine Art, solo show, July and August, 2019
Tillotson Art Center, 2-person show, Colebrook, NH, Sept 7 – Oct. 25, 2018
“Reimagined Landscape”, 2-person show, WREN Gallery, Bethlehem, NH, August 2017
“Shades of Green”, group, G25N Online Gallery, July 2017
“Can’t See the Forest for the Trees”, solo, Fiddleheads, Colebrook, NH, June 2017
S.P.A.C.E. Gallery, 2-person show, Burlington, Vermont, July 1 – 31, 2016
“Artist of the Month”, Exeter Fine Crafts, Exeter, NH, March 2016
“Earthworks”, 2-person show, Tillotson Center for the Arts, Colebrook, NH, Oct. 23 – January 2, 2016
“Visible Light, 2-person show, WREN Gallery, Bethlehem, NH, Nov. 6, - 30, 2015
“Precious”, group show, Soo Rye Gallery, Rye, NH, Nov. 13 – Jan. 21, 2012
“A Personal Landscape” group show, Soo rye Gallery, Rye, NH, Sept. 25 – Nov. 5, 2010
Coos County Symposium, Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, May 22-24, 2010, 3-man show.
“Change of Scenery”, Margaret and H.A. Rey Gallery, Waterville Valley, NH May 28 – July 17, 2010, 2010, two-man show
“Elemental Spring”, Caladan Gallery, online group show, April 1 – 30, 2010
“The Artful Scriptorium” group show, Climate/Gallery, Long Island City, NY, April 3 – 25, 2010
“Putting It All Together” group show, Climate/Gallery, Long Island City, NY, Feb. 6 – 21, 2010
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
2023 Selection Winner Regional Juried Exhibition, Newport, NH, Feb - March 2023.
2022 Selection Winner Regional Juried Exhibition, Newport, NH, Feb. - March 2022.
2020 Selection Winner, Regional Juried Exhibition, Newport, NH, Feb. 9 – March 21, 2019
Cover of NH Public Radio Annual Christmas Card, 2015
People’s Choice Exhibition, Pittsburg, NH – Best of Show Judges’ Award
People’s Choice Award, Hanover Chamber Orchestra Exhibition, March 13th, 2009
Mt. Washington Valley Arts Assoc. Art Show - July 27, 1996 - Judges’ Award
Littleton 25th Annual Art Show 3rd Place
Winner of 1st Night NH Logo Competition - Concord, NH 1993
WORK IN CORPORATE & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Rochester Museum of Fine Art
Portrait of the late Sheriff Morton - Coos County Court House
Portrait of the late Judge Vickie Bunnell - Coos County Court House
Portrait of the late Judge Vickie Bunnell - Colebrook District Court House
WORK IN MAJOR PUBLICATIONS
Best of Colored Pencil II & III - Rockport Publishers
The Best in American Watermedia, Kennedy Publishers
Creative Colored Pencil - Vera Curnow
Cover of the March 1998 NH Bar Journal
Studio Visit - Volume 43
Ayris - creative Arts Journal, Volume 6/1017
Above the Notches by Fletcher Manley
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Fiddleheads, Colebrook, NH
WREN Gallery, Bethlehem, NH
Three Sisters Gallery, Gorham, NH
Copyright Michele Johnsen 2020. All work on this website property of Michele Johnsen. Use of any image on this website without permission is strictly prohibited.