Hollie Johns has been a practicing artist for 22 years, professionally. Her art has always been strongly influenced by the natural world around her, but more recently she states ” I have felt an increasing need to draw attention and appreciation to this beautiful earth that so many of us take for granted.

Hollie attended Maryland Institute College of Art where she gained a BFA in general fine arts, with a focus on photography and illustration. Although she now considers herself a painter, she had never painted, other than her foundation oil class in college, but she picked up a brush and some craft store acrylics, and has been painting ever since

Following art school, her plans to be a children’s book illustrator shifted when she was offered an opportunity to take over an art gallery with over 100 artists from her high school art teacher. Since then she has worked for many local organizations teaching inner-city art classes and creating murals for Creative York(formerly YorkArts), The Salvation Army, The Lighthouse Children’s Home and several local urban gardens. She has helped start and run many art programs and yearly art festivals that still exist locally. Her love of helping other artists show and market their work took a new avenue this year when she opened Virtue Local Art Market in Hellam, PA with her husband and two friends. Together they are showing 45 local artists and crafters, working to start a Second Saturday Event in Hellam, Wrightsville and Columbia, and offering free space for artists, non-profits and children’s events to happen every Saturday from May-October.