Paulina M Johnson

As an artist, my work is rooted in a minimalist design aesthetic and a genuine love of paper. I am inspired by nature and strive to capture its complexity and beauty with the simplest of elements, such as circles and lines. I work solely with paper because I see it as an incredibly versatile and beautiful medium. Throughout history, it has served as a humble surface for documenting, spreading, and sharing our greatest ideas. Paper has woven together the breadth of human thought — from science, art, culture, and history, to meaningful personal narratives. But I believe paper can be more than just a surface. It can be the story and the storyteller in a work of art. Much of what I do is fueled by a curiosity to understand how paper strips that are adhered on edge interact with their environment. I am intrigued by how they come to life when pushed beyond the two-dimensional realm, into the three-dimensional world of light and shadows.

2017 VERMONT COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS // MFA — Montpelier, VT
1999 UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO // BFA — San Francisco, CA
1999 ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY // BFA in Graphic Design — San Francisco, CA

2026 NICOLET COLLEGE // 39th Annual Northern Art Competition, National Juried Exhibition — Rhinelander, WI
2026 BLAINE ARTS COUNCIL // Wings Over Water, National Juried Exhibition — Blaine, WA
2025 ART LEAGUE OF HILTON HEAD 2025 BIENNALE // National Juried Exhibition — Hilton Head, SC
2025 YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE 40 // Juried Traveling Exhibition — Yosemite Valley, CA
2025 ARVADA CENTER FOR THE ARTS & HUMANITIES // Art of the State 2025, Juried Exhibition — Arvada, CO
2024 SILVERTHORNE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER // Looking Back, Solo Exhibition — Silverthorne, CO
2024 SEBASTOPOL CENTER FOR THE ARTS // The Art of Food, Group Exhibition — Sebastopol, CA
2024 UNFOLDED // Gmund Paper Design & Print Festival, Award Exhibition — Gmund Am Tegernsee, GERMANY
2024 33 CONTEMPORARY GALLERY // Interplay: Geometric Abstraction, Group Exhibition — Palm Beach, FL
2024 SHOCKBOXX GALLERY // Not! An Art Fair, Group Exhibition — Hermosa Beach, CA
2023 RED DOT / MIAMI ART BASEL // Represented by Jen Tough Gallery, Miami Art Week — Miami, FL
2023 B.J. SPOKE GALLERY // Paper Works 2023, Online Group Exhibition — Huntington, NY
2023 PINE MOON FINE ART // Nightfall, Joint Exhibition with Jill Bergman — Steamboat Springs, CO
2023 YOSEMITE RENAISSANCE ...