Artistic Sisters » Virginia Johnson

Statement

My life’s work has taken me to points far west of New England — from Pullman, Washington to Boulder, Colorado and finally, to Mesa, Arizona, where I currently make my home. I received my BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and my MFA from the University of Colorado. I taught Fine Arts at the University of Colorado for twenty years and at Regis University in Denver, Colorado for three. My work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country, including The Whitney Museum of American Art, The National Women’s Museum, The Denver Art Museum, The Aspen Arts Foundation, The Boulder Art Center and the Mesa Arts Center. I have received grants and fellowships from the Boulder Arts Commission and the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs. I have published over fifty illustrations for newspapers and magazines.

My work is a visual interpretation of feelings rather than realistic representation. With roots based in Surrealism, the element of interconnecting life permeates all of the imagery. I have traveled several paths in my artistic exploration from the figurative and narrative to landscape imagery. Currently I am working on a series of pastels and paintings, exploring the beauty of light, color and form of the Arizona desert.

Exhibitions

Canyon Gallery, Boulder Public Library
July 22 — September 4

Virginia Johnson showed approximately 20 paintings, pastels, colored pencil drawings and wooden fish at the Canyon Gallery, Boulder Public Library, 1000 Canyon Boulevard, Boulder, Colorado from July 22 through September 4, 2005.

Most of the work in this exhibit was part of a series of pastels and paintings which were pleine aire sketched in the Superstition Wilderness area of the Tonto National Forest in Arizona and completed in the artist's studio. There were two notable exceptions: "Ground Zero", which is self explanatory, and "Three Fishes" which was inspired by explicit memories of the dear friend and late artist, Suzy Roesler and her regionally famous painted fish.

For more details on the exhibit, contact the artist at geeandgin@aol.com.