Verlena L. Johnson, MA, MFA
Verlena is a visual artist who uses portraiture to explore identity, culture, spirituality and memory.
Verlena's Vision
"I have painted and drawn more than one hundred self-portraits. Through self-portraits, I have found a safe place to express my vision and change my sadness into joy and my insecurities into confidence. In this way, my self-portraits have been transformative. Ultimately, I am interested in depicting underrepresented subjects in my artwork, people who have been marginalized or rendered invisible by their perceived unworthiness."
BIO
Verlena L. Johnson was born in Chicago, Illinois. She received her MA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in African-American Studies with an emphasis in Art History, and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Sculpture. She has exhibited her artwork in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and beyond. Constance Can is her second children's book. Her first, The Adventures of Kai and the Magical Machines, was published in 2018. She lives in Encino, California, with her son, Kai, and her dog, Leo.
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.” – Rumi
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