Missy Dunaway is an interdisciplinary Maine artist whose paintings merge scholarship and storytelling. She is currently immersed in a years-long project to depict every bird cited by Shakespeare, a body of work that interlaces natural science, symbolism, and literature. Each piece is supported by advisors in ornithology, botany, and Shakespearean studies, reflecting Missy’s vision of art as an accessible form of research.Missy studied Humanities and Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, combining painting with art history and visual culture. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in 2010. Her work has been recognized with a Fulbright Fellowship, a Folger Institute Fellowship, the ArtPrize Educator Award, and a New Student Scholarship to the Academy of Realist Art Boston. A traveler at heart, she has attended residencies in Turkey, Morocco, France, and Kenya, as well as one in Vietnam as a Four Seasons Envoy.Her Fulbright research in Turkey centered on the rare 11th-century “Konya Carpets” and expanded to village weaving traditions. Inspired by women’s use of color and symbolism as expressions of personal identity, Missy created a series of paintings that mimic the intricacy of weaving through interlocking shapes and expansive fields of color. Many of these works are now in private collections, with a portion of sales supporting women artisans in Turkey.Missy’s long-running travel journals, later published as The Traveling Artist: A Visual Journal (G Editions, 2021), capture daily life and journeys across the globe. Her illustrations have also been featured by Moleskine, Penguin Random House, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Grounded in Maine yet inspired by the wider world, Missy’s art invites viewers to explore culture, history, and nature through a painter’s eye.Hear more about Missy's artistic journeys on Radio Maine.