My work takes my classical, architectural training and looks at ways of bringing it into the contemporary art world. The tactile nature of my work is very important to me, I want the audience to feel that irresistible urge to touch the work; momentarily deceive their eye; making one material look like another to make them pause for a moment and consider how it has been made. 
What I aim to instil in my work is a sense of life, movement, warmth and I hope, peace. Stone can often look like a cold, heartless material. If  I can fill it with gentle life, give it presence, and push the material to it’s very limits, then I feel like I have succeeded. 

The materials I use, their provenance and history are important to me: I try to use local  materials, stones that have travelled as little as possible-  that have a connection to the place I’m working in .  I often use reclaimed stones that already have a history so that I can be part of the continuation of that stone’s story as well as being part of the lineage of ancient skills and techniques passed from generation to generation 
 

Miriam Johnson is a sculptor working primarily in stone. Straight out of school she took part in the Prince's Foundation Young Heritage Apprenticeship Programme and then trained as a stonemason at Bath College. She went on to study Historic Carving: Stone Carving at City and Guilds of London Art School. At art school she started exploring the artistic side of stone carving and its place in the contemporary art world. Since graduating she has been working in her studio, developing her creative practice, making work for galleries, private clients, commissioned work, and taking part in residencies. Alongside her own art practice, she also gets commissions to create memorial stones and architectural carvings for historic building across the UK including The Houses of Parliament and Southwark Cathedral.  In 2021 her work was in ‘Folds’ group exhibition, at the Tristan Hoare Gallery in London and then again in their ‘The conference of the birds’ exhibition 2022. In 2022 she spent three months working in a marble sculpture workshop in Pietrasanta, Italy. She is a senior tutor for the Kings Foundation School of Traditional Arts Outreach Programme in ALUla, KSA. In 2023 she taught a three month intensive course in Bhutan.