SPRINGFIELD, MO.- The Springfield Art Museum is pleased to announce the acquisition of Missouri artist Glyneisha Johnson’s mixed media collage Cruisin’ Together, currently on view in the special exhibition Four by Four (4x4): 2020 Midwest Invitational Exhibition. Since 2014, the 4x4 exhibition has recognized and encouraged artists working in all media who reside in the four-state region of Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas.

Johnson’s work is on view along with bodies of work by Rebecca Drolen (Arkansas), Rebecca Hackemann (Kansas), and Crystal Z Campbell (Oklahoma). Johnson joins previous 4x4 featured artists Shawn Bitters, Sage Dawson, Rebecca Hackemann, Anne Austin Pearce, and Emily Wood in having work acquired to the Museum’s permanent collection.

Johnson is a poly-disciplinary artist, educator, community organizer, and co-founder of the Strange Fruit Femmes organization. She holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, is a 2020 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award Fellow, and a recipient of the 2020 Byron C. Cohen Award. She has exhibited her work at the SCAD Museum of Art, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Union for Contemporary Art.

Through the language of collage, Johnson recreates domestic Black interior spaces that celebrate the inherent matrilineal nature of Blackness. Johnson notes, “In the same way that Black culture is found, pieced together, and transformed; my collages take on the same notion with the use of colorful papers that are also borrowed, gifted, and found. The textures are intentionally specific and can include mark making methods from family heirlooms, my physical form, local foraged plants, berries, and roots, and objects of Black cultural significance.”

Cruisin’ Together connects to other important works in the Museum’s permanent collection through the use of collage and paint layering, including work by Romare Bearden and Carrie Moyer. This acquisition supports the Museum’s goal of acquiring works by artists who originate or work in the Midwest. Additionally, this work further diversifies the voices represented in the Museum’s collection. According to Johnson, her sense of nostalgia and her memories of home are tied to colors, specifically green, purple, and sepia. She notes that her memories of home "are trapped in objects, too."

See the 4x4: 2020 Midwest Invitational Exhibition through July 27, 2021 in our New Wing Galleries. Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. The Springfield Art Museum is located at 1111 East Brookside Drive. Admission is always free. Donations are gratefully accepted.