Muriel "Monik" Johnson creates ancestral portraits and representations of the natural world using collaged butterfly wings. For over 25 years she has delighted audiences around the world as a professional storyteller. As she and her art of storytelling have continued to evolve, so have the mediums by which she crafts her stories; instead of solely capturing her audience with her voice and body language, she now entices her audience with the power of her hands, expanding her storytelling into visual artistry. Butterfly wings have become her muse and medium for creating art that pays homage to ancestors, African spirituality, nature and Black history. Forever transformed by the loss of a close friend who ultimately kept her dying promise to return as a butterfly, then experiencing the loss of her father soon after, Monik’s unique ancestor story portraits began to emerge through the wings of butterflies. Her late mother bestowed her with the middle name, Monik, which is her artist name and yet another ode to her ancestors. Monik was raised in Salisbury,Maryland and moved to  California at the age of 18, where she lived for more than 30 years. While she will always consider herself a true Californian, she currently lives  in Western Massachusetts.