About

 

Iskra Johnson

A R T I S T

My art practice is rooted in the traditions of contemplative art, influenced greatly by my years as a student of Asian calligraphy and my design career as a calligrapher and letterform artist. I use many different media, but in all of them I am attentive to the language of mark-making and surface. As principal of Iskra Design I worked with the alphabet for many years, providing custom letterform solutions for book covers, logotypes, and package branding. In the first decade of my career I immersed myself in Asian calligraphy, haiga, T’ai Chi and sumie painting, studying with Lucy Liu, John Leong and Sensei Ishii among other teachers. After this period of Eastern influence I went to the University of Washington, completing a degree in painting with a secondary focus on printmaking (BFA). I draw inspiration from the interplay between the contemplative practices of Asian art and a perhaps more Western need for invention and uncharted chaos.

I bring my background in calligraphy into all of my work

Although my first love is printmaking, due to early exposure to solvents I have been unable to work in a traditional printmaking studio or with oil-based inks, and this has pushed me to devise my own methods to create the look and process of printmaking without a press. In much of my work I approach my surface as though it is a stone or metal plate, but the “plate” becomes the final piece of art, reflecting the same characteristics of mark-making found in etching and lithography. I love surfaces that are bitten and etched, indirect and calligraphic mark making, and experimental processes of monoprint which embed an element of surprise. I also adore flat screaming color and the graphic qualities of serigraph and stencils. I move between visual languages, always looking for an ambiguity of pictorial space and unexpected juxtapositions.

An ongoing interest is how atmosphere and emotion intersects with architectural structures. In my series about construction sites and the street I use contemporary digital photography, imaging software and found and made surface to explore nostalgia, loss, place and displacement in the rapidly changing urban environment. For me Photoshop is like playing jazz: it is the ultimate tool for improvisation. It allows me to deconstruct images into layers of light and color, line and shape, and reassemble them into imaginary worlds. The way the layers interact with each other opens up a new kind of pictorial composition unavailable in any other medium. I do not use pre-made filters or AI in in any of my work. The physical form of my digitally composed work may be archival pigment print, transfer print, or mixed media. In digitally printed work my goal is to produce a work on paper, an artifact incorporating all the finesse and obsession with surface of traditional printmaking. The resulting images have a mysterious hybrid quality that is often taken for silkscreen or lithography.

German Etching, my favorite paper, beloved for its rich surface and the way it holds ink.

Recently I have begun a shift away from printmaking towards more direct processes, using mixed media on Venetian plaster and pure painting. In going back to what are in some ways traditional image media I am still very interested in what I think of as “photographicness.” This is a relatively modern phenomena, in which photography, which originally set out to imitate life and “painting from life,” has now become our visual reference point as a global culture. How does a way of seeing that is mediated by incredibly complex technology enter into our psychology as a collective/yet personal emotional filter? How does it influence our sense of what is “real,” “personal” or “authentic?” How do the qualities of surface in the daily interface of screens, phones, camera and facsimile begin to define what is beauty in other media? These are some of the questions guiding my work. If you are interested in a studio visit or in purchasing prints or paintings you may write to me through the contact form in the navigation bar or email me at iskra (at) iskrafineart.com. My work may also be seen and purchased through Seattle Art Museum Gallery.

 

My office, where the digital alchemy happens.

 

SOLO/TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2018     ColorBath, Taste at SAM, Seattle Washington

2018     Industrial Pastorale, Perry & Carlson, Mt. Vernon, Washington

2014     Excavations: The Big Dig & Other Stories, Zeitgeist, Seattle, Washington

2012     The Black and White Show, Fraker/Scott, (two-person), Seattle, Washington

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024      Like Mother, Kirkland Art Center, Kirkland, Washington

2024      Spotlight North Studio Tour, Seattle, Washington

2024      Rite of Spring, Chatwin Arts, Seattle, Washington

2024      Splash!, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle Washington

2020     Rhythms of Water, Museo Gallery, Langley, Washington

2019      Under the Influence (Of Asia), Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle Washington

2017      Industrial Strength, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle Washington (Three-person)

2017      Splash, Chittendon Locks Centennial, Seattle, WA

2017     Make America Create Again, COCA, Seattle, Washington

2017     The Winter Show, Museo Gallery, Langley, Washington

2016     Tech and the Democratization of Art, Galvanize, Seattle Washington

2016     Contemporary Printmakers, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle Washington

2016     Confluence: The Duwamish River Project, Columbia City Gallery, Seattle Washington

2016     Annual Artist Exhibition, Kirkland Art Center, Seattle, Washington

2016     The Garden Show, Museo Gallery, Langley, Washington

2015     Seattle Seen, Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2015     Zeitgeist, Arts at the Port, Anacortes, Washington, Stefano Catalani, curator

2015     Waterways, Alexis Hotel, Seattle, Washington

2014     Making & Breaking, Linda Hodges, Seattle, Washington

2014     Any Day, Artists on Death, Steele Gallery, Gage Academy, Seattle, Washington

2014      Seattle Art Museum Gallery, 14 new architectural works for May exhibition

2013     World/City: Exploring the Architecture of Global Relationships, Seattle Architectural Foundation, Seattle, Washington

2013     New Media: Digital Art, Bainbridge Arts & Crafts, Bainbridge Island, Washington

2013     Painters Under Pressure: A Decade of Discussion, Phinney Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2013     Seattle Art Museum Gallery, new architectural images for February Exhibition

2013     Watercolor Exhibit, Steele Gallery at Gage Academy, Seattle, Washington

2013     The Bleak View, Prographica Fine Works on Paper, Seattle, Washington

2012     Contemplations of Nature, Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2011     Icons, Fraker/Scott, Seattle, Washington

2010     Safe Harbor, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, Washington

2010     ArtSpace Printmaking and Photography Exhibition, Richmond, Virginia

2010     Seattle Print Arts, Patricia Cameron Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2009     Printmaking Exhibition, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan, China

2008     The Art of Democracy, Two Wall Gallery,  Vashon, Washington

2008     Collective Visions Gallery Washington State Juried Competition, Bremerton, Washington

 

Studio photos and portrait by Ben Calhoun