Megan Johnson

Hello! I am a mixed media artist living and creating in West Bend, Wisconsin. I received a formal education in Graphic Design and Fine Art Printmaking from Shepherd University in West Virginia, earning my BFA in 1996. For the past 20 years I have honed her skills with constant creation and exploration of a variety of mediums to refine her voice and build her full-time art practice.   My work hangs in private and corporate collections across and beyond the United States and is represented by multiple US galleries. I have shown work in numerous juried group and solo exhibitions, taught workshops and completed multiple artist residencies. I have also curated exhibitions and built connections with artists around the globe by offering courses and small group mentorships. I am also the current Artist In Residence at Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel, in Milwaukee, WI., through August 31, 2025. My abstract mixed media work is created by combining expressive application of paint and drawn line with collected materials such as vintage packaging, ledgers, workbooks and hand-written records. This piecing together of materials results in energetic compositions that evoke joy, spark curiosity and reward close inspection. My paintings always start with a highly organized base layer of collaged paper. This creates an ordered, grid-like surface that grounds the painting in an organised space. The next layers of paint and marks evolve intuitively – I make an effort to keep planning, critique, or analysis at bay for as much of the process as possible. In the beginning, color and visual texture build quickly in a loose, highly gestural application. Gradually, I transition to carefully considering the dialogue that has begun between color and mark, and take my time adding, editing, and layering to build depth and detail. The resulting non-representational pieces do not reference specific subject matter, yet tend to suggest moods and memorable moments large and small.