BETHANY JOHNSON Error of Closure
BETHANY JOHNSON Error of Closure SEPTEMBER 26 – NOVEMBER 14, 2026
Bethany Johnson, Error of Closure, Installation View, Moody Gallery, 2026
Moody Gallery is proud to present Error of Closure, an exhibition of recent work by Bethany Johnson. Error of Closure, Johnson’s sixth solo show at the gallery since 2012, is on view September 26 – November 14, 2026. In her artmaking, Bethany Johnson finds inspiration in the complexities of nature and in humankind’s quest to understand natural phenomena through science. As an artist, she seeks to wed the informational imagery and language of the sciences with the poetry, subjectivity, and emotionality of the visual arts. Error of Closure features Johnson’s newest sculptural and collaged works. The sculptures, plinth-like structures reminiscent of geological formations, are made by densely layering reclaimed materials such as discarded books and construction supplies. These sculptures speak to the artist’s fears about environmental degradation and material consumption. With their refined, smooth surfaces, sleek, geometric forms, and layered, humanmade component parts, the sculptures simultaneously echo the visual language of nature, namely geological stratification, as well as convey careful intentionality and an aura of humanity. They offer many levels of engagement for viewers, from investigations into the formal qualities of each unique sculpture to appraisals of their conceptual underpinnings. In her wall-hanging collages, Johnson melds stone with reclaimed materials. On the surfaces of some of her collages and sculptures, Johnson adds drawings, grids, lines, patterns, and more, many of which allude to nature, its landscapes and vistas. Some of the artworks in Error of Closure were completed during Johnson’s recent residency at Willow House in Terlingua, Texas. Bethany Johnson (b. Indiana, 1985) lives and works in Austin, Texas. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kalamazoo College in Michigan in 2007 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011. Johnson is an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University, where she has taught since 2017. Her work has been exhibited at numerous venues including the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Art Museum of South Texas, Texas State Galleries, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Austin Museum of Art - Laguna Gloria, The Wright Gallery at Texas A&M University, UTSA Art Gallery, Galveston Arts Center, Courtyard Gallery, and the Creative Research Laboratory. She is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2023) and has held residencies at Laguna Madre Field Station (2022), Joshua Tree Highlands, CA (2020), Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany (2019), Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (2019 and 2010), Wild Basin Creative Research Center, Austin, TX (2019), Soaring Gardens Artist Retreat, Laceyville, PA (2013), and Denkmalschmiede Höfgen, Grimma, Germany (2011). In the fall of 2026, Johnson’s art will be exhibited in WaterWork at the Seaholm Intake Building in Austin, Texas (September 25 and 26) and in Thus Water Flows Over Weeds at FL3X Space, Texas State Galleries in San Marcos, Texas (October 5 – 30).
Bethany Johnson, Error of Closure, Installation View, Moody Gallery, 2026
Bethany Johnson, Error of Closure, Installation View, Moody Gallery, 2026
Bethany Johnson – Error of Closure Exhibition Review by Elliot Penn
In a news article from 2013, Professor Kathleen M. Higgins described Bethany Johnson’s art as follows: “Bethany’s art is like a haiku. It gives you little bits of information, yet it’s very evocative.” In 2026, more than ten years later, Higgins’ simile about Johnson’s art still rings true, though her artmaking has certainly changed and evolved over the years. Today, as evidenced by the works in her exhibition entitled Error of Closure, Johnson’s art remains evocative, poetic, and conceptually charged.
Stepping into Error of Closure, housed in the garden space at Moody Gallery, one is struck by the originality and uniqueness of Johnson’s creations. Johnson’s plinth-like constructions rest upright on pedestals. Made of tightly compressed layers of paper and other reclaimed materials like cork, plastic, and rubber, these sculptures feature exquisitely drawn interventions and have satin smooth finishes. The miniscule drawings on these sculptures, which show landscapes, are executed with a fine-tipped ink pen. The exteriors of these works conceal metal armatures and interior systems of screws, bolts, and washers, which physically keep them together. When fashioning these sculptures, Johnson used an impact driver to tighten the pieces and an electric hand plane to smooth their surfaces. Their appearances evoke the stratification of geological formations. According to the artist, these sculptures “function fundamentally as environmentalist works.”
The small-scale collages in Error of Closure are made primarily of stone and feature drawn and textual elements. These images, as Johnson puts it, “challenge legibility and raise questions about what can be known and measured.” They resemble scientific field notes, diagrams, and charts. For these collages, Johnson isolated scientific texts and phrases from books, magazines, and other ephemera and recontextualized them, utilizing them for their poetic effect. According to Johnson, the text in these collages comes from chapter headings in a land surveying manual. She does not utilize the texts in her collages for their original meaning or with their original context in mind. Rather, Johnson transforms the mundane refuse of society into visual evidence of humankind’s consumption, wastefulness, and ingenuity. According to the artist in 2022, “I hope to offer an opportunity for discussion and reflection on the issues of human consumption and material waste, while also generating works that are entrancing and poetic independently from their environmental themes.”
While the work in Error of Closure may be characterized as conceptually charged, Johnson’s work does not fit comfortably within the category of conceptual art. Though it exudes a cool, impersonal minimalism, a quality shared by the work of artists like Agnes Martin and Sol LeWitt, Johnson’s creations do not place a primacy on idea over material. For Johnson, the materials and the final form of her art matter deeply. Her sculptures are meticulously crafted and are imbued with a strong sense of intentionality. According to the artist, “...it’s really kind of the outcome that matters to me... of what I want to see, and what’s interesting to me.” Most importantly, there is no one fixed idea or set of ideas privileged in Johnson’s art. In her art, Johnson embraces open-ended inquiry. Her work acts like a catalyst for discussion and reflection. As Professor Higgins remarked, Johnson’s art is like a haiku. One should not expect a haiku to tell a complete story or to tell a story at all like a work of fiction. Rather than trying to decipher or understand Johnson’s artwork like one would a novel, riddle, code, or informational source, visitors to the exhibition will benefit more from slowly and deliberately observing her work, or even by simply experiencing it, while time allows, like an installation or environment.
Bethany Johnson, Static Insert I, 2026, ink on mixed media (chipboard, latex, paper, rubber), 8 1/2” x 5 1/4” x 2”
Bethany Johnson, Mojave Plinth IV, 2025, ink on mixed media (chipboard, latex, paper, plywood, vinyl, wood), 11 3/4” x 8” x 2 1/2”
Bethany Johnson, Rippled Inset, 2025, ink on mixed media (hardboard, paper, plastic, rubber, vinyl), 22” x 12 1/4” x 3”
Bethany Johnson, Split Rock, 2026, ink on mixed media (aluminum, chipboard, paper, vinyl), 24 1/4” x 16 1/4” x 3 1/2"
Bethany Johnson, Untitled (Excavation), 2025, chipboard, cork, hardboard, laminate, paper, plastic, vinyl, 6” x 5” x 2”
Bethany Johnson, Chert Inset, 2025, ink on mixed media (paper, plywood, vinyl, wood), 21” x 8 1/2” x 5 1/2"
Bethany Johnson, Drift Inset, 2025, ink on mixed media (aluminum, chipboard, paper, plastic), 23 1/4" x 8 1/4” x 5 1/2”
Bethany Johnson, Untitled (Excavation), 2025, chipboard, paper, plexiglass, rubber, vinyl, 13 3/4” x 8 3/4" x 5 1/2"
Bethany Johnson, Terrazzo Seam (Pink), 2025, aluminum, concrete, latex, paper, plastic, 9 1/2" x 8” x 3 1/4"”
Bethany Johnson, Mojave Plinth III, 2024, ink on mixed media (paper, cork, hardboard, latex, vinyl), 10” x 5 1/4" x 2 1/2"
Bethany Johnson, Untitled (Excavation), 2025, chipboard, cork, laminate, latex, plastic, rubber, vinyl, 4 1/4” x 2 1/2" x 2”
Bethany Johnson, Core Sample, 2025, ink on mixed media (chipboard, paper, plastic, rubber, vinyl), 30” x 7 1/2” x 2 1/2"
Bethany Johnson, Static Inset II, 2026, ink on mixed media (cardboard, latex, paper, plastic, rubber, vinyl), 16 3/4” x 8 1/4" x 5“
Bethany Johnson, Untitled (Excavation), 2026, ink and collage on stone, 5 1/2" x 4”
Bethany Johnson, Untitled (Excavation), 2026, ink and collage on stone, 5 1/2" x 4”
Bethany Johnson, FINIS, 2026, ink and collage on stone, 6 3/4" x 4 3/4"
Bethany Johnson, Notes - Border Lines, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2" x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Processes as Values, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2" x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Running a Straight Line, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2" x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Short Cuts, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Knowing and Understanding, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2" x 5”
Bethany Johnson, The Stars, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Memory, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Remember Where You Are, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Inaccessible Distances, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Problems Problems, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Problems, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Manual I, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, The Area is Beautiful and Vulnerable, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 6” x 3 1/2"
Bethany Johnson, Error of Closure, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Manual II, 2026, Ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Determination of Boundaries, 2026, ink and collage on stone, artist’s frame, 7 1/2” x 5”
Bethany Johnson, The End, 2026, ink and collage on stone, 7 1/2" x 5”
Bethany Johnson, Error of Closure, Installation View, Moody Gallery, 2026
BETHANY JOHNSON Born: LaPorte, Indiana, 1985 Lives and works in Austin, TX Education 2011 Master of Fine Arts in Painting, University of Texas at Austin; Austin, TX 2007 Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, Kalamazoo College; Kalamazoo, MI Professional Experience 2023 - Present 2017 - 2023 2015 - 2017 2012 - 2014
Associate Professor, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX Assistant Professor, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX Full-Time Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX Adjunct Instructor, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions 2027 2026 2022 2020-21 2020
2018 2017 2015 2014 2013 2012
2007
Black Rock Gallery, Yucca Valley, CA Error of Closure, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX 2023 Log Book, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Findings, grayDUCK Gallery, Austin, TX Safe Keeping, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Holding Space, dispersed locations, Austin, TX 2019 We Live on a Planet, Courtyard Gallery, Austin, TX The First Idea is an Imagined Thing, Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany We Live on a Planet, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX The Poem That Took Place of a Mountain, Wild Basin Creative Research Center, Austin, TX Between Here & Everywhere Else, Pleat Gallery (online) Centerpiece Artist: Bethany Johsnon, OUTsider Fest, Austin, TX Field Notes, The Texas State Galleries, San Marcos, TX Part of Me Just Wants / All of the Things, Bethany Johnson and Cecelia Robertson, The Mom Gallery, Austin, TX Field Notes, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Forces, the Will & the Weather, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX Shape Shifting: New Methods of Drawings (with Ann Tarantino), Austin Museum of Art – Laguna Gloria, Austin, TX Woven Landscapes, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX In/Organ, Light Fine Arts Gallery; Kalamazoo, MI
Selected Group Exhibitions 2026
Thus Water Flows Over Weeds, FL3X Space, TXST Galleries, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, WaterWork, The Trail Conservancy/City of Austin ACME/Design Austin, Seaholm Intake Building, Austin, TX Exploring Uncertainty Part Two, The Art Galleries at Austin Community College, Austin, TX
2025
2024 2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018 2018
2017
2016 2015-16 2015
2014
Wild America, Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Jamestown, NY Terra Forma, Co-Lab Projects, Austin, TX Terrain Biennial 2025, Terrain Exhibitions, dispersed locations (decentralized international public art exhibition) Films of Return, A La Luz (curators), online film and video art festival Local Filmmakers’ Showcase 2025, Experimental Response Cinema & Hyperreal Film Club, Austin, TX Dog Days of Summer, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX 50th Anniversary Exhibition Part II, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX MFA After K, Light Fine Arts Gallery, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI Solar Lunar, Artspace, Wimberley, TX Transmissions (a project of ecoartspace), Canopy Projects, Austin, TX Earthly Forms, TC Energy Center Lobby, Houston, TX, Curated by Kinzelman Art Consulting Points of Return, The Umbrella Arts Center, Concord, MA, Curator: A La Luz Contemporary Texas Women Artists: Abstraction Here and Now, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX, Curator: Caitlin Clay Texas Artists: Women of Abstraction, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, Curator: Deborah Fullerton, Faculty Exhibition, The Texas State Galleries, San Marcos, TX Path of Entry, Wiregrass Museum, Dothan, AL Little Things Matter, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS Pride, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (online) FRC9, Flat Rate Contemporary (online) Soaring Gardens: The Second Decade, Hope Horn Gallery, University of Scranton, Scranton, PA Broadcasts: Art in the Age of Social Distancing, SPACE, Portland, ME (online) Soaring Gardens: The Second Decade, Hope Horn Gallery, University of Scranton; Scranton, PA Gifts, The Texas State Galleries, San Marcos, TX Texas State Faculty Exhibition, Meadows Gallery, The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX Untitled(house), Illinois State Museum, Lockport, IL Faculty Exhibition, The Texas State Galleries, San Marcos, TX Art Hop, Georgetown Art Center, Georgetown, TX Third Coast Biennal, K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX 14th Annual People’s Gallery Exhibition, City Hall, Austin, TX Staycation 2: What in the World?, MASS Gallery, Austin, TX SEEP, Edwin W. Zoller Gallery, State College, PA Café Sketches, Artists Travel Drawings, Perry and Carlson Gallery, Mt. Vernon, WA Linear Thinking, Shoestring Gallery, Brooklyn, NY At the Edge, The Wright Gallery, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Traded, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX, Curated by James Scheuren 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Off the Charts, 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, NM, Curated by Rhiannon Mercer and Claude Smith Elemental Scapes, UTSA Art Gallery, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX Inquiry, Visual Arts Center, Austin, TX MAC@20 Part II Featuring The MAC Exhibiting Artists from 2005-2013, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX EAST Group Show, Little Pink Monster Gallery, Austin, TX
2013
2012-13 2012 2011 2010 2009
2008
A Clean Well-Lighted Space, A project of the Texas Biennial, Austin, TX Break it Down (with Dan Sutherland, Brad Tucker, and Ben Brandt), Organized by DUTTON, Pop-Up Space at 400 Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX Commitment and Similar Acts of Betrayal, King Street Gallery, Silver Spring, MD Mighty Line, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston, TX The Drawing Room II, A Group Exhibition of Texas Artists, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX On the Double, Dutton Gallery, Austin, TX Take-Aways, Champion Contemporary; Austin, TX Apparent Weight, Visual Arts Center; Austin, TX Texas National, (juror: Judy Pfaff), Cole Art Center; Nacogdoches, TX Source of Inspiration, Trout Museum of Art; Appleton, WI Half and Half, Creative Research Laboratory; Austin, TX Urban/Street, Fab Gallery; Austin, TX Prospects, Creative Research Laboratory; Austin, TX 2008 Juried, Appleton Art Center; Appleton, WI Grand Opening Show, Fab Gallery; Austin, TX
Residencies 2026 2025 2024 2022 2020 2019
2013 2011 2010
Willow House Artist Residency; Terlingua, TX Co-Lab Projects #bitres (digital residency); Austin, TX Joshua Tree National Park Artist in Residence Program; Twentynine Palms, CA Laguna Madre Field Station Artist in Residence, Corpus Christi, TX Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency, Joshua Tree, CA Institut für Alles Mögliche; Berlin, Germany Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT Wild Basin Creative Research Center, Austin, TX Soaring Gardens Artist Retreat, Laceyville, PA Denkmalschmiede Höfgen, Grimma, Germany Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Lectures & Workshops 2025 2024
2023 2022
2021 2020 2019
2018
Artist talk; Members’ Studio Visit Series, The Contemporary Austin; Austin, TX Artist talk; “Fresh from the Studio,” Women and their Work; Austin, TX Artist presentation; in conjunction with Joshua Tree National Park Artist in Residence; Twentynine Palms, CA Artist talk; in conjunction with Log Book, Moody Gallery; Austin, TX Reading; “A Physical Book Which Compiles Conceptual Books by Various Artists,” Partial Press; online Artist talk in conjunction with Texas Artists: Women of Abstraction; South Texas Museum of Art; Corpus Christi, TX Podcast and artist talk; in conjunction with Findings, grayDUCK Gallery; Austin, TX Collage workshop; Sitka Center for Art and Ecology; Otis, OR Collage workshop and artist talk in conjunction with Path of Entry, Dothan, AL Artist talk in conjunction with Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residence, Joshua Tree, CA Artist talk in conjunction with The First Idea is an Imagined Thing, Berlin, Germany Artist talk in conjunction with The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain, Austin, TX Workshop in conjunction with residency at Wild Basin Creative Research Center; Austin, TX Artist Talk in conjunction with Drawing Lines; OUTsider Fest, Austin, TX
2017 2016 2013 2012
2011
Panel discussion in conjunction with Staycation 2, MASS Gallery, Austin, TX Artist talk; Borderland Collective, International School of the Americas; San Antonio, TX Panel discussion in conjunction with At the Edge, The Wright Gallery, College Station, TX Artist talk in conjunction with Forces, the Will and the Weather, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX Conversation with Kathleen Higgins, PhD and Professor in Philosophy at UT Austin, in conjunction with ShapeShifting: New Methods of Drawing, Austin Museum of Art – Laguna Gloria, Austin, TX Artist talk in conjunction with Denkmalschmiede Hofgen residency, Grimma, Germany Artist talk as recipient of Art League of Austin Scholarship, Austin, TX
Press / Bibliography 2023 2022
2021
2020
2019 2018 2017
2016
“Discussing Fall Exhibitions in Texas,” Art Dirt podcast, Glasstire Clay, Caitlin, Contemporary Texas Women Artists: Abstraction Here and Now, Exhibition Catalogue, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, 2022. Cortiaus, Jacky, “Don’t Mess with Texas Artists: Abstract Art Finds New Life with Texas Women Artists”, Glasstire, December 17, 2022 (reproduction). McKetta, Jeannie, “Under pressure: Bethnay Johnson’s intimate sculptures conjure core samples from an Anthropocene age”, Sightlines, February 5, 2022. “Glasstire’s Best of 2022”, Glasstire, December 13, 2022. "The Line-Up: A Dozen Museum Shows in Texas to See This Fall," Sightlines “The Line-Up: Eight Exhibitions to See in January,” Sightlines “Five Visual Arts Things to See by Private Appointment,” Austin Chronicle “Five Minute Tours: Bethany Johnson at grayDUCK Gallery, Austin,” Glasstire “New Exhibition on Display at AMST Celebrates Women Artists from Across Texas,” 3News Corpus Christi “Climate Change Exhibit Spotlights K Artists”, Kalamazoo College News and Events, March 7, 2022 “FRC9 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Shapes and Forms,” Jan Dickey, Flat Rate Contemporary Featured artwork, Harbor Review #7, July 2021. “Five-Minute Video Tour” – “Bethany Johnson - Safe Keeping + Group Exhibition of Gallery Artists”, Glasstire, December 14, 2020 “Top Five: December 10, 2020”, Glasstire “A Media: Bethany Johnson”, Revue Profane No. 10 Instagram Takeover, Wiregrass Museum of Art “WMAArtist Interview with Bethany Johnson”, Wiregrass Museum of Art “Studio Visit: Bethany Johnson”, PLEAT Gallery Cover art, The Capra Review “Top Five: October 3, 2018”, Glasstire Friend of the Artist Vol. 6, 2018 “Artist Feature: Bethany Johnson,” Conflict of Interest, 2017 “Artist Q&A: Bethany Johnson,” Woksob Family Gallery blog, 2017 “Notes for an Emergency: A Conversation with Bethany Johnson” “Field Notes & Notes for an Emergency”, Newfound Magazine, 2017 (reproduction). Morgan, Mindy, “In the Studio”, Austin Woman Magazine, October, 2016 (reproduction). “13 Things I Found on the Internet Today,” Messy Nessy blog, 2016 “Post Patterns,“ Present & Correct blog, 2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
Bennett, Steve, “’Elemental Scapes’ explores boundaries”, San Antonio Express News and mysa.com, June 10, 2015, pp. D1 & D6 (reproduction). Bennett, Steve, “Artists navigate our place in the landscape”, San Antonio Express News, June 9, 2015. “Off the Charts map the process artists use to document and manipulate,” Albuquerque Journal, 2015 Smith, Claude, “Field Notes: Bethany Johnson at Moody Gallery”, New American Paintings, online blog, December 4, 2014 (reproductions). “Critic's Picks: Houston,” art ltd. Magazine New American Paintings, No. 108, October/November, 2013, The Open Studios Press, pp. 70-73 (reproductions), Juror- Veronica Roberts, Editor: Steven T. Zevitas. “Studio Visit,” Austin Chronicle “Going WEST in Austin,” Hyperallergic “WEST Picks,” Austin American-Statesman Glentzer, Molly, “Easy-access art exhibits: Building lobbies become backdrops for works”, Houston Chronicle, Star Section, pp. E1 & E3, August 1, 2013. Antill, Jenny, “Visual Types”, Paper City Houston, April, 2013, p. 40 (reproduction) Anspon, Catherine D., “Bethany Johnson, Moody Gallery, Houston”, ARTnews, November 2012, pp. 153-154 (reproduction). Quinton, Luke, “In Ethereal Glass Pane Drawings, Artist Bethany Johnson Inventively Documents Precious Rainfalls”, Austin 360, Austin American-Statesman, February 7, 2013, p. 14 (reproductions), “UT Alumna Infuses Science, Poetry in New Exhibit,” The Daily Texan “Artist's New Tools Present Fact, Fancy in a Fresh Light,” Austin American-Statesman Dilso, Meredith, “Quiet Yet Powerful Landscapes, Constructed Dash by Dash”, Art Attack, Houston Press, July 18, 2012 Steven Zevitas, “Ten must See Painting Shows: Summer 2012”, Huff Post Arts, The Internet Newspaper, Huffington Post, August 10, 2012 Todd Camplin, “Bethany Johnson at Moody Gallery through August 18th” , Modern Houston, August 28, 2012 (reproductions) “The Fairest of the Fair,” Paper City Houston “Begegnung mit Künstlern,” Leipziger Volkszeitung
Published Creative Work 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
2017 2013
Contributor; A Physical Book Which Compiles Conceptual Books by Various Artists, Partial Press Featured artwork; Harbor Review #7: Other Featured artwork; “A Media: Bethany Johnson,” Revue Profane No. 10 Cover art; The Capra Review Fall 2019 Featured artwork; Friend of the Artist Vol. 6 Contributor; Feminist Pedagogy Zine, Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women, University of Pennsylvania Featured artwork; “Field Notes & Notes for an Emergency,” Newfound Magazine Featured artwork; Conflict of Interest Vol. 3 Featured artwork; New American Paintings #108
Award & Honors 2025 2024
2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2016 2014 2012 2011 2012 2009 2008 2007
Project grant; Research Accelerator Program, Texas State University; San Marcos, TX Artist grant; Encourage Art Foundation; Austin, TX Artist grant; Research Enhancement Program Grant, Texas State University; San Marcos, TX Artist grant; Joshua Tree National Park Artist in Residence; Joshua Tree, CA Artist grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, NY Award of Distinction, Little Things Matter, University of Southern Mississippi; Hattiesburg, MS Resident artist grant, Joshua Tree Creative Research Center, Joshua Tree, CA Resident artist grant, Wild Basin Creative Research Center, Austin, TX Research Enhancement Grant, Texas State University The Hunting Art Prize, Finalist, Houston, TX The Hunting Art Prize, Finalist, Houston, TX The Hunting Art Prize, Finalist, Houston, TX Art League of Austin Scholarship Kelly Fearing Endowed Scholarship, University of Texas at Austin M.K. Hage Endowed Scholarship in Fine Arts, University of Texas at Austin Learning Tuscany Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin M.K. Hage Endowed Scholarship in Fine Arts, University of Texas at Austin Jack G. Taylor Memorial Endowed Presidential Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts Student Excellence Fund Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin Summa Cum Laude, Kalamazoo College Honors in Major, Kalamazoo College Tedrow-Little-Tyler Grant, Kalamazoo College Phi Beta Kappa Induction, Kalamazoo College
Collections Trout Museum of Art Joshua Tree Highlands Artist Residency Austin Public Library Austin History Center Texas State University Marathon Oil
Bethany Johnson, Error of Closure, Installation View, Moody Gallery, 2026
BETHANY JOHNSON Error of Closure SEPTEMBER 26 – NOVEMBER 14, 2026
2815 COLQUITT HOUTSON, TEXAS 77098 713-526-9911 info@moodygallery.com moodygallery.com