SOREN LIT. 2023. Verlena Johnson, MFA

SOREN LIT

SOREN LIT...A Southern Renaissance of women, femmes, and/or non-binary creatives exploring the lingering South...

SOREN LIT. 2023: Verlena Johnson, MFA

www.sorenlit.com

Producer & Founding Editor: Melodie J. Rodgers, MFA

Verlena L. Johnson was born in Chicago and grew up in Madison and Beloit Wisconsin. She earned a B.A. in Sculpture and a M.A. in Afro-American Studies with an emphasis in Art History from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a M.F.A. in Sculpture from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Verlena has also studied wood carving with Ghanaian Master Wood-carvers, as well as, at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft and Penland School of Craft.

She has exhibited her artwork in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Oakland, amongst other places. Her artwork has appeared on the cover of the book Approaches to Teaching the Novels of Toni Morrison and the journal Sinister Wisdom. She has taught studio art and art history to children and adults in community centers and colleges.

Her children’s book, The Adventures of Kai and the Magical Machines was published in 2018. Verlena’s current book project is a children’s picture book about a little boy named Jimmie in rural Mississippi in the 1940s.