Beth Johnston (b. Kuna, Idaho) is a research-based artist working across photography, video, and installation. With a background in science and psychology, her work explores the links between ecology, cultural imaginations, and ways of knowing, particularly in relation to climate change.
Her current research investigates the legacies of landscape photography and how it shapes cultural worldviews. Building on this research, her artistic practice is often experimental in form—she frequently uses non-traditional framing and interdisciplinary installation methods—to nourish alternative (non-dominant) ways of knowing. These approaches draw on insights from lived, embodied, and labored experience, as well as the lessons held within ecosystems and the land itself.
She regularly participates in art/science collaborations and served as a 2023–24 Colorado Art Science Environment (CASE) Fellow at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was also the Denis Roussel Fellow at the Center for Fine Art Photography in 2023.
Beth holds an MFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design and a BA in Psychology from Wake Forest University. She currently lives and works between the high mountain desert of the Southwest and the coastlands of the Northeast.
Current Research Interests:
Climate Science, Queer Ecology, Environmental Justice, Art as Activism,
Poetry, and Place-based Pedagogies and Epistemologies
Contact:
info@beth-johnston.com
@beth_johnston_
EDUCATION:
MFA, Photography, Rhode Island School of Design
BA, Psychology and Physical Sciences, Wake Forest University
FELLOWSHIPS:
CU Boulder CASE (Colorado Art Science Environment Fellowship), 2022-24
Center for Fine Art Photography Dennis Roussel Fellowship, 2023
ARTIST TALKS / LECTURES
Parsons School of Design
Pratt Institute
MassArt
University of Colorado Boulder
New Mexico School for the Arts
Adams State University
Colorado Creative Industries
Breck Create
Der Greif Magazine
Imagining America
Center for the Arts Crested Butte
BRDG Project Gallery
SITE Santa Fe
CURRENT / UPCOMING SHOWS + EVENTS
2024:
Coloradans and Our Shared Environment in Times of Challenge and Change
Center of Southwest Studies
Fort Lewis College
Durango, CO
March 19, 2024 - February 14, 2025
Opening Reception 4.11.24
2025:
Adapting Our Work to a Changing Climate
Artist Panel
Society for Photographic Education Annual Conference
Reno, NV
March 9th, 2025
PAST EXHIBITIONS
2024
UnBound13!
Candela Gallery
Richmond, VA
July 5, 2024 - August 3, 2024
Hear/Say
Curated by Tya Anthony
Opening Reception June 14
Denver, CO
June 14, 2024 - July 14, 2024
SPE Women’s Film + Video Festival
Society for Photographic Education Annual Conference
St Louis, MO
March 21, 2024 - March 23, 2024
Coloradans and Our Shared Environment in Times of Challenge and Change
Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) Building
University of Colorado
Boulder , CO
January 18, 2024 - March 27, 2024
2023
Coloradans and Our Shared Environment in Times of Challenge and Change
Breck Create
Breckenridge, CO
December 9, 2023 - January 7, 2024
Little Creatures
Canyon Gallery
Boulder, CO
August 12, 2023 - September 30, 2023
Coloradans and Our Shared Environment in Times of Challenge and Change
Colorado State Capital Building
Denver, CO
May 19, 2023 - December 1, 2023
Experimental Film Forum
Hudson Theater
Los Angeles, CA
July 12, 2023
Experiments in Cinema
Guild Cinema
Albuquerque, NM
May 17, 2023
Fragments
Strata Gallery
Santa Fe, NM
January 9th, 2023 - February 15, 2023
2022
All Texts About Love
Curated by Anthony Elms
Microscope Gallery
New York, NY
July 28, 2022 - August 19, 2022
Adams State University
Rhode Island School of Design
Pingree School
Colorado Mountain College