PRESS RELEASE
Inaugural Exhibition
Apr 2 – Apr 30, 2005
Holly Johnson Gallery Announces Grand Opening
Holly Johnson and Jim Martin are pleased to announce the opening of Holly Johnson Gallery in April 2005 with an inaugural exhibition including the gallery’s artists in a newly renovated space with both large and small exhibition spaces, private viewing area and large art storage facility.
The gallery’s exhibition program will promote contemporary artists from throughout the United States and abroad with a range of artistic sensibilities and processes as well as provide for their development of individual excellence in the visual arts. Artists represented include: Terry Allen, David Aylsworth, William Betts, Scott Calhoun, Alain Gerard Clement, Virgil Grotfeldt, Otis Jones, Paul Kittelson, Charles Mary Kubricht, Janaki Lennie, Margo Sawyer, Gael Stack, Richard Stout, Jackie Tileston, Frank X. Tolbert II, Randy Twaddle, Casey Williams and Sydney Yeager.
Holly Johnson, a Dallas native studied painting and art history at the Art Institute of Chicago in the mid 1980’s before turning to a career in the gallery field. While pursuing her degree she began what is now a twenty year career in the art world with an internship with Roberta Lieberman of the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago’s River North area. Today the gallery directed by William Lieberman continues to maintain the quality of aesthetic vision it established thirty years ago and maintains professional associations with the Art Dealers Association of America and the Chicago Art Dealers Association.
She also held a research internship position with the Prints and Drawing Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, a distinguished collection of nearly 75,000 works from the 15th century to the present with particular strength in 19th century prints and drawings; Old Master prints, fine representations of the work of Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya and Whistler; extensive 20th century holdings and a growing collection of contemporary works on paper.
She returned to Dallas, her hometown, in 1990 to direct the Adams-Middleton Gallery at the time promoting well-known artists of regional and international acclaim such as Eduardo Chillida, David Deming, Herbert Ferber, Joe Guy, Giacomo Manzu, Marcia Myers, Jesus Moroles, Robert Motherwell, Isamu Noguchi, Beverly Pepper, James Rosenquist, and Miguel Zapata.
She moved to Houston in 1995 to direct the Barbara Davis Gallery formerly known as Davis/McClain Gallery. The gallery was the first to bring to Houston internationally known artists such as Joseph Beuys, Ross Bleckner, Jonathan Borofsky, Gunther Forg, Adam Fuss, Rebecca Horn, Robert Kelly, Donald Lipski, Julie Mehretu, Ed Moses, Shahzia Sikander, Kiki Smith and Juan Usle.
Former director of Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum, Edmund P. Pillsbury and gallery owner, Gerald Peters of Santa Fe formed Pillsbury and Peters Fine Art, Ltd. in Dallas in 1999. Holly Johnson was asked to relocate to Dallas to direct the gallery’s everyday operations. She held the position of gallery director at Pillsbury and Peters Fine Art / Gerald Peters Gallery in Dallas, Texas until 2004.