Whitney Johnson-Lessard is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Illinois. Through painting and creating situations of engagement, her practice is invested in material provisionality and relationships with our more-than-human companions. Her work uses fantasy, practicality, and speculation to work towards imagining possibilities of life more closely interconnected. Participants are often invited to interact with plants, mushrooms, and found objects inside and outside of the gallery space. By interrupting constructs based in speciesism and separation, her practice works to visualize alternative futures in and against ecological destruction. Johnson-Lessard has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally. She has been awarded a number of grants, including support from the Arts Partners of Central Illinois, and the Illinois Arts Council. Recently, Johnson-Lessard was a resident at Alderworks Artists and Writers Retreat in Dyea, AK, and exhibited with the artist-run curatorial project Lease Agreement. She received a BFA in Painting from Illinois State University, and an MFA in Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. Whitney is a professor and currently teaches at Bradley University and Illinois Central College.