The Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas closed quietly in mid-2025, following concurrent solo exhibitions of Hempstead artist Randy Twaddle and Houston artist David Aylsworth, which ran from October 19 through December 28, 2024.
No public announcement was made about the closure, after 20 years of exhibitions that drew accolades from publications including Glasstire, Singulart, and D Magazine. In 2005, the year the gallery opened, the Dallas Observer awarded the venue its Best Gallery award, and its reputation grew to be widely considered a fixture in the Dallas art scene. The final social media post from the gallery was made on November 15, 2024, announcing an open house the following day.
Exterior of the former Holly Johnson Gallery, August 2025. Photo: Brandon Zech
Elgin artist Margo Sawyer joined the gallery in its first year, in a group show with a piece that involved a complex, wall-covering installation. She said Ms. Johnson was right there with her during the 10-day process, down on the floor or up on ladders helping. “She was really in it with the artist,” Ms. Sawyer said. And Ms. Johnson worked hard for her artists in other ways, she said. “It was the most impossible thing to sell, and she called me up just before the opening and said, ‘It sold!’ Much to my surprise.”
Ms. Sawyer called the closure “heartbreaking” and praised Ms. Johnson as “an amazing dealer, in the trenches with all the artists.” She added, “It was a well-curated, well-loved space.”
Denton artist and educator Dornith Doherty had been with the gallery through its two decades. She told Glasstire Ms. Johnson was “a tireless supporter of my work, and I was very sorry to hear that she made the decision to close.”
Ms. Doherty said Ms. Johnson’s “influence came from not only contributing to the contemporary art scene in Dallas by having unique vision and really high quality roster and really beautiful shows,” but that she was also a founding member of the Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas nonprofit, creating “a real collaborative sense among the gallerists in Dallas,” and sponsoring grants for young artists.
“She really contributed that sense of camaraderie among the galleries, which I think helps foster a greater sense of the artistic community in Dallas that was really lovely,” Ms. Doherty said.
San Antonio artist Liz Ward joined the gallery in 2022, and had one solo exhibition, titled The Grove, in 2023. Ms. Ward told Glasstire she learned of the closure in a personal email from Ms. Johnson sent on July 2, 2025, and that it seemed to be a difficult decision for the gallerist. The two have been friends since they both lived in Houston in the 1990s.
Of the closure, Ms. Ward said, “It’s a very sad thing, because I think Holly did a wonderful job. She had a really strong program. She mounted beautiful exhibitions. She was lovely to work with.”
Ms. Ward lauded Ms. Johnson’s expertise at installing exhibitions, possessing a keen sensitivity to how works interact visually and conceptually. “She was a real pro, and just a delight of a person.”
In Ms. Sawyer’s understanding, Ms. Johnson worked through the process of closing the gallery, crating and shipping artwork back to artists and closing the books, from the end date of the final show into the summer months of 2025. By the end of August, the space had closed permanently. When Ms. Sawyer realized she hadn’t heard anything about the gallery for some time, she noticed the landing page of the gallery website had been changed to an image of the gallery at night, “which I think was kind of a silent message that I was a little slow to recognize.”
Exterior of the former Holly Johnson Gallery
“Dallas will miss her programming,” Ms. Sawyer said.
The Holly Johnson Gallery website remains online, offering a comprehensive archive of the venue’s long exhibitions history and ample information on each artist.