RESUME

April Zanne Johnson was born April Suzanne Johnson in Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.A. in 1970.  April is a multidisciplinary artist. She is a graduate of the B.F.A. program of Parsons School of Design/The New School for Social Research (1993) and received her M.F.A. at Montclair State University in 2013.   Her studio borders Sussex and Warren County in North-West New Jersey.

 During the past decade, April's work has been added to the permanent collection at the Williamsburg Art Historical Center in Brooklyn, NY, and to private collectors in Mexico City, Florida, New York City, North Carolina, New Mexico, Los Angeles, London and Australia. (Notable collectors include Oscar winning composer Javier Navarrete & actress Perdita Weeks).  April is an active member of W.A.G.E / NYC as Wagent #223 (formally #325) and a member of the Artist Rights Society (ARS) NYC. She is listed with the curated artist registry at White Columns at 91 Horatio Street in New York City.

Honors include Best of 2013, Saatchi Art, London U.K., curated by Rebecca Wilson, spotlighted in the series: One to Watch.  April was awarded a solo exhibition at Herhusid Artist Residency in Iceland.  She was the Dedalus Foundation Fellowship Nominee as well as the Nominee for Executive Women of New Jersey Graduate Merit Scholarship Award chosen by the Montclair State University graduate faculty (2012, 2013).  Inka Essenhigh selected April for the Atlantic Center for the Arts Artist Residency in 2015.  April has participated in several projects with composer Jeff Morris (Texas A&M) between 2016-2020.  She was recently interviewed by Circle Arts Foundation in France (2020) and Singulart (France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland).  At the end of 2020, April’s work was included in Uni-Verse, Poetry-Prints-Proofs by Visionary Humans Edited by Anna Ehrsam and Katherine Jackson for the Battery Journal in New York City. October 14,2023  April's collaboratoive  documentary project with renound film maker Daniel Maldonado, composer Jeff Morris and musician Joe Hertenstein,  debuts at Mexican independent Film Festival ULTRAcinema XII.  LIVE FEED, 2023 , documentary film by Daniel Maldonado, April Zanne Johnson, Jeff Morris and Joe Hertenstein. This film documents the collaborative project and is a trailer for the  site specific video projection art installation by April Zanne Johnson. 

CV

Solo
2016 “Parallel Existence”, Warren County Community College, Washington, NJ
2014 “parallax xallarap”, Herhusid Artist Residency, Siglufjörður, Iceland
2011 “The 17th Year: Secret Dialogue”, Atrium Gallery, Sussex County Community College, NJ

Group Exhibitions

2023

LIVE FEED, 2023 , documentary film by Daniel Maldonado, April Zanne Johnson, Jeff Morris and Joe Hertenstein, ULTRAcinema XII, Mexican Experimental Film Festival. This film documents the collaborative project and is a trailer for the  site specific video projection art installation by April Zanne Johnson. 

2021

“The New Normal: Working Through The Pandemic”, curated by Grace Graupe-Pillard for Payne Gallery at Moravian University, PA

2019

 “Sense of Place”, curated by Michael Holden, 1Gap Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

 
2018

“Visual Impressions 3rd Biennial Exhibition”, Ryan James Gallery, WA
“Live Feed”, Documented in the Project Room, Abron’s Art Center, NYC
“Spectrum Gestalt 5”, Gestalt Project/ bG Gallery, Santa Monica CA
“Sense of Place”, Park Place Gallery, curated by Michael Holden Brooklyn, NY

2017

“Portal 2017”, curated by 4Heads Governor's Island, exhibited at 435 Broome St., NY
“The Other Art Fair N.Y.C.”, presented by Saatchi Art, June 1-4, Brooklyn Expo Center,
Greenpoint, NY
“Spectrum Gestalt 4”, bG Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Fight or Flight”, The Painting Center, NYC

2016

“People’s Choice Salon Show”, Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
“Extended Consciousness”, Caelum Gallery, NY

2015

 “25th Annual Miniatures Invitational”, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
“Affordable Art Show”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Williamsburg, NY
“New York Now!”, 015 Factory-Art Projects, NY
“The Trap”, Hammond Art Center, IN

2014

“Art Takes Miami”, SCOPE
“Over the Edge: Paperworks Unbound, Parts 1 & 2”, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center,
Brooklyn, NY
Governor’s Island Art Fair 2014, NY
“Metro 30 Exhibition”, City Without Walls, Year Long  Traveling Group Exhibition Newark, NJ
“MFA National Competition”, First Street Gallery, NY
“Color”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, national juried exhibition
“Layers”, City Without Walls, juried exhibition, Newark, NJ

2013

“Metro 29 Exhibition”, City Without Walls, Year Long  Traveling Group Exhibition Newark, NJ
“Times Square Billboard Event”, See Me NYC
“This Show Means Right Now”, Magnan Metz Gallery, NY
“Toxicity”, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
“Rabble-Rousing Acts”, 73 See Gallery, Montclair, NJ
“Single Fare 3”, RH Gallery, New York, NY
“Exhibition of Works on Paper”, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff School of Art and Design,
United Kingdom

2012

 “Rupture: Painting Exhibition”, Finley Hall Gallery, Montclair State University, NJ
“It’s a Color Thing: Art Scene Today”, international juried exhibition, Ava Rado Harte
Center for Emerging Art, Miami, FL; and Vorpal Gallery, New York, NY
“Scaled to the Infinite”, Index Art Center, Newark, NJ
“Territories: MFA Group Exhibition”, Finley Hall Gallery, Montclair State University, NJ
“National Wet Paint Exhibition”, Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago
“-­ology: Paintings and Drawings”, Finley Hall Gallery, Montclair State University, NJ

2011

 “11.11.11 MFA Open Studios”, Montclair State University, NJ
“New Meeting: Painting and Sculpture”, Finley Hall Gallery, Montclair State University, NJ
“San Francisco Erotic Art Exhibition”, The Artists’ Alley, San Francisco, CA
“Ode to California”, juried exhibition, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA
“Birds, Bees and Butterflies”, national juried exhibition, Lazarus Gallery, New York, NY
“24th Annual Skylands”, national juried exhibition, Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council,
Newton, NJ
“Mandalas, Circles & Spheres”, Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council, Newton, NJ

Education

1989-1994  Parsons School of Design New York, B.F.A.

2010-2013 Montclair State University, M.F.A.

Honors

 
2013

Best of 2013, Saatchi Art, London
M.F.A. Fellowship Nominee, The Dedalus Foundation
Unconventional Graduate Student Merit Award Nominee, Executive Women of New Jersey
2012 Unconventional Graduate Student Merit Award Nominee, Executive Women of New Jersey
2005 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Islamic Art Education educational group grant
2000 Art and Design Volunteer of the Year, SCARC Foundation, Augusta, NJ

Collections

Private collectors in London, Sydney, New Mexico, Mexico City and New York City
(Including Javier Navarrete, Oscar winning composer and Perdita Weeks, actor)
Saatchi Art, curated online collection London and Los Angeles
Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
Residencies
May–June 2015 Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Dontion of Art to Herhusid Artist Residency, Siglufjörður, Iceland

Projects

 
Johnson, April Zanne Close Reeding, 2020, Close Reeding, Jeff Morris, Ravello Records, 2020, Cover art by April Zanne Johnson - a collage of perceptual responses to the music.
Johnson, April Zanne In the Middle of the Room, 2020, Hearing Voices, Human Sounds Digital Ears, Jeff Morris, Ravello Records, 2020, Cover art by April Zanne Johnson - a collage of perceptual responses to the music.
Johnson, April Zanne With Strings 2019, With Strings, Live Sampling in Counterpoint, Jeff Morris, Ravello Records 2019, Cover art by April Zanne Johnson - a collage of perceptual responses to the music.
Johnson, April Zanne Interfaces, Jazz Meets Electronics, 2018, Jeff Morris, with Carl Berger and Joe
Hertenstein, Ravello Records, 2018, Cover art by April Zanne Johnson - a collage of perceptual responses to the music.

Bibliography

Ehrsam, Anna, and Katherine Jackson. Uni-­?verse: Poetry, Prints, Proofs by Visionary Humans. New York: Battery Journal Publishing, 2020.

Hart, C.C. "April Zanne Johnson: Synaesthete Artist." The Iris. August 6, 2017. Accessed August 07,
2017. http://www.theiasas.org/iasas-­?-­?-­?iris/.

Steinhauer, Jillian. "Passing Through Portal, an Unpretentious Art Fair in Soho." Hyperallergic.
Hyperallergic, 02 May 2017. Web. 12 June 2017.

"ArtMaze Mag – International Independent Bimonthly Print and Digital Art Publication Showcasing Emerging
Artists." ArtMaze Mag. Ed. Maria Zemtsova. Maria Zemtsova, Editor and Founder, 14 Jan. 2017. Web. 14 Jan. 2017. . Studio Visit, April Zanne Johnson

“April Zanne Johnson, Fresh Paint Magazine (October 19, 2015),
http://freshpaintmagazine.com/april-­?-­?-­?zanne-­?-­?-­?johnson/ October London Issue 9." Fresh Paint Magazine (October 1, 2015): 32–33.

Seed, John. “Artists (and Other) Talk About Art and Destruction." Huffington Post Arts & Culture, July 1,
2015.

“Open Studios Press: April Zanne Johnson.” Studio Visit Magazine 29–30 (July 2015).
Coulson, Laura. “April Zanne Johnson.” Paint Pulse Magazine (April 2015).

Bischoff, Dan. "Art Review: 'Layers' at Newark's City Without Walls." Star Ledger, August 25, 2014.
Tewes, Johanna. “April Zanne Johnson Entwirft Biomorphe Traumlandschaften.” Art Armada (January
2014).

Wilson, Rebecca. “One to Watch: April Zanne Johnson.” Saatchi Gallery homepage, January 28, 2013.

Van Weerden, Jacques. “30 Abstract Traditional Painters: Creative Overflow.” Design Magazine,
August 29, 2013.

Community

2022 “Postcards From The Edge 2022 “ Donation of Art for Visual Aids NYC, 526 W 26th St #510 New York, NY
2021 5MAXX Studio Visit presentation, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
2015 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards Silent Auction, Waldorf Astoria, NY
2014 “Visual Aids: 17th Annual Postcards from the Edge Benefit Sale”, Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY
“Wall to Wall Art Auction”, City Without Walls, Newark Symphony Hall, Newark, NJ
Art Auction Fundraiser, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
“A Celebration of Women in the Arts”, Art in the City Gala, Newark Arts Council, NJ
2013 GLAAD Foundation Art Auction, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
Lecture, “Paintings of Agnostic Portals and Floating Ciphers”, Williamsburg Art & Historical
Center, Brooklyn, NY
5th Annual Art Auction Fundraiser, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
Lecture, “Ways and Means, ” 73 See Gallery, Montclair NJ
4th Annual Art Auction Fundraiser, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ