About the artist
McKenna Dickerson is a Vermont-based artist, maker, and naturalist. She grew up in Middlebury, VT and received her BFA from Saint Michael’s College where she pursued art & design and environmental studies. As a painter and mixed-media artist, McKenna explores human relationships with the environment. Her artwork focuses on unique textures, colors, and form in nature as way of drawing attention to, celebrating, and learning about the world around us that we often overlook.
McKenna has spent the past several years working in a variety of creative settings including galleries, studios, classrooms, and maker spaces. Currently, she works as the youth programs director at an art school in South Burlington, VT. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for the natural world, along with her passion for hands-on learning with her students. In 2022 and 2024, McKenna served as artist-in-resident for Alaska State parks; studying the landscapes, histories, cultures, and ecologies of 2 state parks in Juneau, AK.
Artist Statement
Growing up in the wooded hills of Vermont, I developed an intimate bond with the rich biodiversity of our forests and backwoods. As one of six children, the natural world became both a refuge and a source of endless wonder—a quiet place where I could retreat from the noise of human life and reconnect with something older, wilder, and deeply alive. The trails and trees near my childhood home were my sanctuary, and some of my most cherished memories are rooted in those moments of solitary exploration.
As an adult, I’ve learned to seek out that sense of wonder with more intention. Through my work as an artist, I return again and again to that childhood awe—rekindling it with each brushstroke. Nature remains my greatest muse.
My paintings often explore the overlooked intricacies of the natural world—landscapes etched by time, the delicate textures of plants and animals, and the quiet poetry in a loon’s back or a trout’s iridescent flank. I’m drawn to the subtle details: the speckled camouflage of feathers, the luminous band tracing a fish’s lateral line, the braided patterns of stone and debris across a mountainside. These elements invite us to slow down, to pay attention, to ask questions.
Curiosity becomes a doorway to reverence. When we notice, we learn—and when we learn, we care. Understanding the design and function behind a feather or a fin deepens our connection to the earth and our role in protecting it. My hope is that my work inspires others to wonder more, to see more, and to weave that sense of presence and stewardship into their own lives.
