Mary Johnson

Born: Rochester, MN, USA, 1964 Resides: Shoreview, MN, USA Education MFA, University of Minnesota, 2007 BFA, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, 2003 Mary Johnson is a Minnesota-based artist living north of St Paul, with a studio in Minneapolis. Her work is the product of a mix of traditional sculptural and craft processes. Among her inspirations are the transformations that are possible in the creation of art. She received her MFA from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. My work presents a gathering, a confluence if you will, of what could be described as the sad ends of cast-off materials. It seems uncanny how often the aspirations of these materials tend naturally toward new life, born in concert with their rejected fellows. This coming together in my work functions to negate the dreary story of the neglected and discarded and offer in its place a new and transformed existence, a dazzling encore, a silver lining. (MplsArt)