A resident of the Pioneer Valley since 1992, Amy “BannerQueen” Johnquest is a mixed media artist currently residing in Holyoke. Preferring to work low tech and hand wrought, Johnquest creates in a wide variety of disciplines including installations, murals, and set designs. By using found objects, vintage photos, and textiles as her base, Johnquest (AKA the BannerQueen) alters and paints over these materials creating transcendent atmospheres. Ranging from the sublime to cosmic jokes, Johnquest likes to consider the big picture (life and death) in a reverent yet playful way. Johnquest obtained the moniker of BannerQueen in 1999 when she began painting sideshow banner themed art with a pop culture twist. Her work has been widely collected and shown. Much of her art continues to evoke a carnivalesque feel and it often advertises things that are not for sale or perhaps may not even exist.
Stacy Waldman/House of Mirth Photos, is a dealer and collector of vintage and found vernacular photography. She specializes in 20th century photo albums, snapshots and ephemera. Photos that she has found have been included in numerous exhibitions and publications throughout the world, including the popular book “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.” She can be found at photography, ephemera and book shows throughout the country and abroad, and at her showroom, Spot 142 in Easthampton, MA, open by appointment.
You can also find her at www.houseofmirthphotos.com, on eBay as HouseofMirth, and on Instagram and Facebook as Houseofmirthphotos.