Melanie Johnson

Melanie Johnson is an Associate Professor of Art & Design and Foundations Coordinator at the University of Central Missouri. She received her MFA in Painting from Indiana University.

Johnson’s work consists of large-scale figurative drawing and painting and deals with psychological narrative themes. Her work has been exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally. She is currently an Artist in Residence at the Charlotte Street Foundations Studio Residency Program in Kansas City, Missouri.

Johnson lives with her son, two dogs, and two cats in Kansas City.

Artist Statement: (excerpt from Johnson’s website)

Drawing is a vehicle, here used as a medium to construct stories and as a forum to exercise the physical process of finding those stories. The work is representational—it is easy to discern what is being depicted. As such, the drawings convey to the viewer recognizable imagery, and there is immediacy in that recognition. Each drawing is also a record of the history inherent in its own manifestation. In a very basic sense, it is a record of the act of looking, of touching, and of constructing meaning through relating one mark or image to another over a period– a physical testament to the passage of time and a series of visual decisions. I am interested in the simultaneous read of an immediately recognizable image that asks the viewer to linger over a history and meaning that unfold more slowly.

Read Johnson’s full artist statement at her website.

Website: melanie-johnson-iixi.squarespace.com

Recent Work:

Assymetry4

WildDomestic1 copy

Matthew Watt

Matthew Watt is Associate Professor at Parkland College teaching Drawing, Painting, and Digital Art.

Artist Statement:

I am a divergent thinker. I consider process first and product second. I find content and meaning through making work, rather than planning a solution to a defined problem. Over time, themes coalesce through the images, and I can verbalize the ideas dwelling in the artwork.

In my latest series of drawings, I begin with the observation and fragmentation of common objects. By using the contours, shapes and surfaces of things, I create an abstract organization that evokes a larger pictorial space. This is a space populated by visual tension. I intend for them to evoke a sense of movement, perhaps upheaval. This visual movement and tension is a record, or perhaps a kind of map, of mind.

I want to be surprised by the transformation in my drawings. For this reason, I spend a good amount of time exploring various means of drawing. In my current series I use graphite, mineral spirits, watercolor and ink. Some of the contours are drawn on the paper, while some are made by relief. I am interested in revealing the application of materials in the finished drawing.

 

Recent Work:

x_4  x_2

Sara Paige

Sara Paige Hoag is currently pursuing a masters degree in Fine Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She specializes in painting, but she also like to explore other areas in new media (video and programming).

Artist Statement: to be posted soon

Website: www.sarapaigeart.com

Sara_Paige_FundamentalFoundation  Sara_Paige_Fundamental_side

 

 

 

 

 

Jackson Bullock

Bullock is an MFA candidate in Visual Artists at the Sam Fox School of Design and visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He received him BFA in Art Studio with an emphasis in painting and drawing from the University of Kentucky.

Website: www.jacksonbullock.com

Recent Work:  

BullockImage2  BullockImage3