Kathleen D. Johnson
ARTIST STATEMENT
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Artist Statement |
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As a child Kathleen
loved to draw. Teachers in grade school would often comment that they
couldn't read her schoolwork because her papers were so covered with
elaborate drawings. Her first real encouragement came from her 6th grade
teacher, who liked to show her work to everyone who came in the classroom.
Her first award was the first prize in the Science class competition for her
illustrated report on insects. Kathleen started to
paint seriously at 15 when she attended the Skitikuk School in Orono, Maine.
At 17 she was offered a full scholarship to Unity College, where Professor
Leonard Craig was starting up a new art department. Mr. Craig provided
excellent instruction in abstract principles. At the end of the year her work
won first prize at a Colby College competition, the award being a full
scholarship to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture 9-week program.
There she studied with Janet Fish, Leland Bell, and John Moore and attended
lectures by Alex Katz, Fairfield Porter, Elliot Porter, Alice Neal, and Helen
Frankenthaler, among others. At the end of the session she won the drawing
competition prize. She attended the
Kansas City Art Institute on scholarship, studying under the direction of
Wilbur Niewald and Stanley Lewis in an academic format of life drawing and
painting from models. She was blessed with an excellent foundation to develop
as an artist. The process of
painting evolved out of her educational background, overlaid by intuitive
responses to her environment. Living on Mount Desert Island provides an
endless array of subject matter. By spending a lot of time outdoors she
saturates her senses with the unique and varied island beauty. Together with her
Jack Russell Terrier, they climb pine laden granite mountains, walk along the
rocky seashore, and spend time at the docks watching the fisherman bringing
in their catches. Often when out
exploring she uses her camera to shoot reference photos to use for her
paintings. Her paintings are based on abstract foundations taken from the
photos, as well as her memory and imagination. She doesn't consider the
object or subject to be secondary: she allows the abstract aspect and the
realistic image to carry equal weight and work together as a whole. Working strictly in
oils, it allows her the most versatile of mediums, capable of producing
everything from watercolor-like washes to thick impastos. Her favorite
subjects are usually sculptural in quality, small boats with their water
reflections, being a current favorite theme. She is also known for her
paintings of the fishermen, dockworkers, and other workers of the seas of Acadia. |
