Ms. M.J. Levy Dickson is an artist and educator.  She explores global interconnectedness through her artwork and discovers common denominators in the natural world.  She finds in nature patterns of color, light, mood, subject, texture, and sound that transcend conventional boundaries, such as those between sight and sound, land and water, or time and space.  These discoveries are reflected both in her artwork and her teaching. 

Ms. Dickson’s body of work is deep and varied, and questions the boundaries between abstract, representational, and expressionist art forms.  It was while illustrating the book Wildflowers of Nantucket, as well as many brochures for conservation organizations, that Ms. Dickson became aware of the global similarity between flowers and plants in nature and textile patterns.  She has exhibited her installations with New York Parks and Recreation Art in the Parks Program, as well as with the Historic House Trust of New York.  She has also worked with poets and musicians to foster combined sensory communication.

Ms. Dickson has held teaching positions  as artist-in-residence in Tangier and with The Farm in Jaipur.  She has designed and taught in the art studio at  Michael Graves College, Wenzhou-Kean University, in China.  She has also taught at MIT and the Boston Architectural Center, and was the first artist-in-residence at the Perkins School for the Blind.  She is currently teaching in the Studio One Program of Fountain House in New York.  She has always welcomed opportunities to work with people who have special needs.

Ms. Dickson received a diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;  her BFA from Tufts University; and her MFA from Boston University.

In her Fulbright-Nehru project, Ms. Dickson is illustrating how people can be brought together through nature and art.  Beginning her project from a woodblock printing studio in Jaipur, she is preparing a catalog of its design motifs by identifying each plant species and where it grows.  She is also working with artists in India to create sculptures inspired by wildflowers using repurposed materials.