Underground interactions

Michele Johnsen, “Wise Woman II” (acrylic on canvas) by Michele Johnsen, in her show “Otherword,’’ at Nightshade Contemporary, in Littleton, N.H., through May 2

The acrylic paintings of Michele Johnsen, a New Hampshire native, are inspired by landscape. She’s particularly interested in the underground interaction among the roots of trees, fungi and other living things in the Granite State’s s forests. The seemingly unnatural colors she uses give her work a fantatical quality that evokes the magic and mystery inherent in this underground communication.

She lives in Colebrook, N.H.

Downtown Colebrook, N.H.

— Photo by P199

The long-gone Monadnock House hotel in Colebrook. The town, on the edge of the White Mountains, started to attract summer visitors seeking relief from the heat and pollution of Northeast cities in the late 19th Century.