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, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Travel + Leisure, and the National Audubon Society. Missy is represented by Portland Art Gallery in Maine.
Current & Upcoming Events
August 31, 2026 | Podcast: That Shakespeare Life, Episode 437
Episode summary: Artist and researcher Missy Dunaway joins us to explore her Birds of Shakespeare project, which documents all sixty-five bird species referenced across Shakespeare’s works. We’ll discover how she identified each bird, the historical sources behind her paintings, the plants and symbolism included in her compositions, and some of the most surprising birds to appear in Shakespeare’s writing. Listen to the episode.
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