From time to time we catch a glimpse of who we think we “really” are, the exhilaration and excitement of recognizing something that seems ourselves and yet larger than ourselves at the same time. It is this “something” that fuels my passion both in the process of art and in its subject matter. Art—in process and product—can be revelatory. That revelation may be uncomfortable, or even disturbing, but it always has the power to transform.
I’m primarily a digital artist. I take a photograph in the moment—capture the feel of a place or the look of a person—and I build something new from there by adding in layers of other photographs I’ve also taken. I work intuitively, and the final result is almost always a surprise compared to where I thought I wanted to go in the beginning of a project! But that is part of the fun. And the revelation.
My work has appeared in shows in the US and Canada, the journals The New Post-Literate, EmDash, Eyedrum Periodically, and the upcoming anthology Luminous by Synclectic Press. I’ve also been a cover artist for Sopher Press and I’m featured with the Guerrilla Artists Group.
2021
New Life Exhibition, Fondazione per l’arte Bartoli Felter, Cagliari, Italy. juried
MDAC 2021, Mobile Digital Arts & Creativity Summit, Pacific Art League Gallery, Palo Alto, California. Winner. juried
Your Dream Is You, Istanbul, Turkey. juried
2020
Windows of Hope, Hub South End, Charlotte, NC juried
All Colors of the World, MEM del Mediterraneo, Cagliari, Italy. juried
MDAC 2020, Mobile Digital Arts & Creativity Summit, virtual exhibition. Honorable Mention. juried
Mira Mobile Prize, Mira Forum, Porto, Portugal. juried
The Impossible Exhibition-Covid Sessions, Part 2, The New Era Museum, online exhibition
Home Grown, Cornelius Arts Center, Cornelius, NC
2017
Home Grown, Cornelius Arts Center, Cornelius, NC
2016
Home Grown, Cornelius Arts Center, Cornelius, NC
2015
Story, Old Town Public House, Cornelius, NC (solo)
Element, Brick Row Gallery, Cornelius, NC
2014
The Power of Labeling, The Incluseum, online exhibition
Zalop: Illusory Correspondence Art, Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Convergence, Brick Row Gallery, Cornelius, NC
Big Art Comes in Small Packages, Peter Street Fine Arts Gallery, Orillia, Ontario
2013
Small Works Invitational, Brick Row Gallery, Cornelius, NC
2010
Plastic Exhibition, Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Slick Willy: BP’s Oil Slick, Archetype Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Madison Area Open Art Studios Visual Poetry Exhibition, Madison, WI
VISPO, Eyedrum Art and Music Gallery, Atlanta
2019
Only Mobile Art, cover and image features, May/June/July 2019, pages 37-43.
2017
Horizons Magazine, image feature: Gender Identity and the Sacred: Widening the Church’s Embrace, March/April 2017, page 12.
2015
Sopher Press, commission: book cover: Erotic Faith: Desire, Suffering, & Transformation in the Incarnational Theology of Wendy Farley, Mari Kim, Ed., Upland: Sopher, 2015
2013
Sopher Press, commission: book cover: Lovely Tents of Jacob: the Vagina in Scripture, Erica L. Martin, Upland: Sopher, 2013
2019
Artist Watch: Melissa D Johnston, Escape into Life, July 18, 2019, feature.
2016
Collector’s Choice: Melissa D. Johnston, Kirstein Fine Art, May 13, 2016, feature.
2015
Exhibit explores artist’s trauma, The Herald Weekly, December 26-31, 2015, pages 18-19, article/interview. Online version here.
‘Story’ on Display at OTPH, Lake Norman Citizen, November 24, 2015, article.
Artist Melissa D Johnston Revisited, Ennyman’s Territory, November 8, 2015, interview
Exhibit shows art ‘elements’, The Herald Weekly, August 13, 2015, interview
2014
The Artists of ‘Convergence’ Opening Friday at Brick Row, DavidsonNews.net, February 4, 2014, interview
2010
Artist Spotlight: Melissa D. Johnston, The Art Gardner, May 9, 2010
Ten Minutes with Visual Poet Melissa Johnston, Ennyman’s Territory, February 24, 2010, interview
