Haley Johnson grew up in Massachusetts, where an interest in wildlife and the outdoors began at a young age. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, with a Minor in Sustainability and Academic Honors, from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Her professional experience includes gallery and museum work, teaching, and assistantships, as well as residencies such as the Allagash Wilderness Waterway Artist Residency (2025), the OCARC Margo-Gelb Dune Shack Residency (2024), and the Maine Audubon Brush with Nature program (2023).
Johnson’s work has been featured in a wide range of exhibitions, including recent shows at West Window Gallery (Quincy, MA), The Distillery Gallery (Boston, MA), Concord Art (Concord, MA), 82 Parris (Portland, ME), and Zepster Gallery (Brooklyn, NY). She has received recognition through awards such as the George Nick Prize (2022), Third Prize at the Frances N. Roddy Competition (2023), and multiple features in publications including Artistonish Magazine and Furrow Magazine.
Johnson’s artistic practice reflects a lifelong connection to the natural world. Speaking about her work, she explains:
“Oil painting allows me to share my passion for wildlife and inspire a love for nature in others. I work from my own photographs from birding trips or long hikes, finding joy in telling stories about my personal experiences in the outdoors. I am particularly interested in capturing fleeting moments, fragments of time I wish to relive and preserve.
Most often, the paintings are of encounters with wildlife, with concern for the colors and textures that a camera will not pick up on. I am replicating the experience of wildlife encounters: animals in motion, camouflaged with their surroundings, and the fastness of the experience as a whole.
I take a lot of inspiration from time spent in remote locations, specifically the woods of northern Maine where I have always been drawn to and visit often. I find myself talking not about the specific techniques employed in the painting process, but the stories that led to their creation and where my inspirations lie.
I grew up in Massachusetts, where my persistent interest in wildlife and the outdoors started at a young age. In high school, I discovered a passion for birdwatching and began to learn about and photograph birds and other wildlife regularly.
Birds are a recurring motif in my paintings as they have ignited my interest in ecology and sustainability and given me some of my happiest memories in the outdoors. I am fascinated by the variety of different species living around us and how different organisms interact with their environments, and spend a lot of time in the wilderness learning about them as I gather reference material.”
