About

Missy Dunaway is an interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, Maine. Her work combines painting with research in the humanities, exploring intersections of art, literature, history, and the natural world.

She earned a Bachelor of Humanities and Arts from Carnegie Mellon University in 2010 and later received a Fulbright Research Fellowship to Turkey, where she studied early Anatolian textiles. This work informed a series of paintings exhibited internationally and eventually led to the publication of her sketchbooks in The Traveling Artist: A Visual Journal (2021).

Her current project, The Birds of Shakespeare, combines painting with archival research to explore every bird species referenced in Shakespeare’s works. She is a recipient of a Folger Institute Fellowship and contributed a series of twenty-two essays to the Folger Shakespeare Library’s blog, Shakespeare & Beyond.

Her work has been featured by Smithsonian magazine, Travel + Leisure, and the National Audubon Society. Missy is represented by Portland Art Gallery in Maine.

Current & Upcoming Events

Press | Article in Smithsonian magazine

May 29, 2026
The Birds of Shakespeare was the subject of an article in Smithsonian, written by Michelle Mehrtens, the Arts and Culture Correspondent. Read the article here.

Exhibition | Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, Amherst, MA

February - August, 2026
Resilient Roots: Pollinators, Weeds, and the Art of Repair
Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies
650 East Pleasant St
Amherst, MA 01002
Plan your visit

Artist-in-Residence | Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, Amherst, MA

July, 2026
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Presentation information to come.
About the program

General Exhibition | Portland Art Gallery, Portland, ME

Year-round general exhibit
Portland Art Gallery
154 Middle St
Portland, ME 04107
207-956-7105
portlandartgallery.com