About

Artist Statement

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.

Exhibitions And Awards

2022

2021 Mobile Photography Awards. Honorable Mention in Visual FX and Digital Art

2021

Your Dream Is You, Istanbul, Turkey (moved online due to Covid).  juried

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

2020

2020 Mobile Photography Awards. Honorable Mention in Digital Art

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

Commissions and Print Media

2022

FAA Journal: The Federation of Australian Astrologers Inc, cover image, June 2022.

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

Bibliography

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