My painting practice explores transformation through provisional materials. Waste textiles become paper, and pigments gathered from routine circumstances join with traditional oil. Through dreams, fantasy, observation, and tangibility I imagine time collapsed as fragments of earth and body come together to form images and abstractions.
I also create situations that explore and encourage engagements with our more-than-human companions. Forming relationships with plants and animals has always grounded me. By interrupting constructs based in speciesism and separation, my practice works to envision a future of life interconnected against environmental catastrophe.
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Whitney Johnson-Lessard is a Peoria, Illinois based visual artist. She received a BFA in Painting from Illinois State University, and an MFA in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at the Block Museum of Art (IL), Coco Hunday (FL), Figure One Gallery (IL), the McLean County Art Center (IL), and ICON Gallery (IA). She has been awarded a number of grants, including support from the Arts Partners of Central Illinois (2024), and the Illinois Arts Council (2024). Recently, she has participated in a residency program with Project 1612, and exhibited with the artist-run curatorial project Lease Agreement. This summer she is a resident at Alderworks Artists and Writers Retreat (AK). She is a professor and teaches at Bradley University and Illinois Central College.