Leon Johnson

Professor + Chair of Fine Arts –  College for Creative Studies

Panelist – 4:00pm, Wednesday, April 6th – Lab Culture: Hands on Think Tanks for Cities

Leon Johnson was born and raised in South Africa. He is a convergent media artist, the proprietor of The Long Bell Press, and a founding member of Creative Material Group. He earned both his MA and MFA at the University of Iowa as an Iowa Arts Fellow. In addition to his responsibilities at the University of Maine, Johnson has taught at the Transart Institute in Berlin and worked with graduate students at the Rhode Island School of Design as a Public Engagement Associate. He also worked with his colleague, Iain Kerr, to established the well-regarded low-residency MFA program at Maine College of Art. Among his many awards, Johnson was a recipient of the Jackson Pollock/Lee Krasner Foundation Grant, a Yaddo residency for painting and the Ersted Award for innovative undergraduate teaching. He has also been honored as a performance artist and film maker. His film, “Faust/Faustus,” was selected for the KunstFilmBienale in Cologne, Germany, and the Raindance Film Festival in London in 2003. Recent engagements in 2010 have included the exhibition “Tricks of the Eye: History + Memory in a Shifting Social Landscape” at RISD, a solo exhibition of paintings, sculptures, and films “Overland, Offshore, Downriver” at 37A Gallery in Portland, Maine and “DUAL SITE”, a Dinner Theater Performance at Whitney Art Works. Johnson was also a project artist in residence this summer at Mildred’s Lane, PA which included a workshop on experimental book forms and a performance of “DUAL SITE.” In April 2011 Leon will exhibit new work in New York, as part of the Live From Detroit Exhibition, at Fred Torres Collaborations.