Stephen T. Johnson will present a Visiting Artist Lecture at 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, in Agenstein Hall, room 324, on the campus of Missouri Western State University. Johnson’s lecture is free and open to the public.
Johnson is a highly versatile American artist whose visually arresting and conceptually rich body of work forges connections between words, objects and ideas. His work can be seen in museum and gallery exhibitions, site-specific public art commissions and through his original award-winning children’s books.
Much of Johnson’s work is characterized by an interest in the alphabet and language, which began with his book “Alphabet City,” a Caldecott Honor and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. His most recent engagement with the alphabet is his ongoing series of “literal abstractions” which are the subject of his book “A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet,” also a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year.
Johnson’s drawings and paintings are in numerous private and permanent collections, including the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the New Britain Museum of Art in Connecticut. His public art includes a large mosaic mural at the DeKalb Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, New York, and a 58-foot long mural at the Universal City Metro Station in North Hollywood, California.
For more information on Johnson and his work, visit www.stephentjohnson.com. His guest lecture is made possible by a grant from the Missouri Western State University Foundation.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.