Heidi L. Johnson

Heidi L. Johnson lives/works in the Hudson Valley, NY. Johnson is a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where she received the Traveling Scholar Award and holds a BFA from Tufts University. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships among them two Pollock Krasner Foundation Grants, Elizabeth Foundation Individual Artist Grant, Bronx Museum Artist Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Johnson has been resident at the Robert M MacNamara Foundation (ME), the Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio Residency (NY), and the ARTOMI International Residency (NY). Her work is held in private and public collections in the US and abroad.

Johnson describes growing up with creatures, large and small in the countryside of Massachusetts. These early beginnings influence her work today as the animal species and objects inhibit Johnson’s surreal worlds. Her playful oil canvases layer ideas, flatten dimensions, and compress time. Johnson entertains the viewer by painting domesticated pets alongside exotic animal species while contrasting 17th-century Dutch Baroque flowers with modern artists’ works.

While showing her work in EMERGE @ Boston’s 24th International Fine Art Show October 20-23, 2022, Johnson is very much in command of her art: her original voice, her technical proficiency, and her sophistication in balancing the representational subject within a surrealistic narrative. For this exhibition, Johnson is offering a range of oil paintings from large -- New England Claptrap is a dynamic 10’ wide painting at $10,000 -- to a series of affordable smaller 10”x 10” pieces that start at $750.