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Existential Greetings! Ex Voto Paintings by Iskra

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Ex-Voto painting by Iskra
“Ex-Voto for a Non-Believer,” from Sleep Studies. Available here.

It’s that existential season when structures reveal themselves, whether they are trees bare of leaves or beds bare of comfort. Winter can bring insomnia and questions of faith, along with powerful affirmation. Although December is a time of celebration, it is also often a time of passage, and anyone who has lost a parent or other loved one in this season knows the particular poignance of this confluence.

What better station to consider life, death, prayer, hope and all the indulgent remedies for these thoughts than the bed? [Read more…]

The Beauty of Usefulness: Iskra Interview with the Port of Seattle

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The Crimson Monarch print by Iskra
“The Crimson Monarch,” © Iskra Johnson, archival pigment print. A glimpse of industrial beauty from Centennial Park.

A few weeks ago the Port of Seattle came to my studio to interview me about my work, and the result, “The Beauty of Usefulness: Maritime Industrial Art” is on their website now! I haven’t seen myself on video since I was umm, home movies on a swingset in a onesie? – so this was pretty unnerving. I wish they had given me a beer and reminded me to smile. . . . But I am so thrilled to be able to show my work in depth with a new audience and talk about the connections between industry and art. They asked some very interesting questions not often posed to an artist, giving me an opportunity to think and share in depth what is behind the surface of what I do. I hope you will take a look, (here’s a glimpse of the videos) and let me know what you think!

In other art news, Color Bath will be coming down a week early due to a schedule change at SAM Gallery, so I hope you will try to make it in by October 28th to visit Taste at Seattle Art Museum and see the show. The Color Bath series will continue to be available through the Gallery after the show comes down.

The group show “Terrain,” at Museo until October 28th, is just beautiful. One of my pieces in the show is still available, so get on up to Whidbey and see it while the sun is out and the weather is at its Northwest best. While I was on the island for the opening I had a chance to return to some of my favorite places and do some shooting. I am completely mesmerized by this new way of collaging still and moving images. It maybe low resolution on your monitor, but I hope the contemplative moment comes through.

Ebey’s Landing Meditation © Iskra Johnson

 

 

Terrain and Digital Maneuvers: Two Shows Opening in October

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My work will be in two new group shows opening this week. I am very curious to see how my fellow artists interpret Terrain: Exploring a Common Ground, at Museo Gallery on Whidbey Island. “Terrain” is one of those lovely words you just want to savor with a good beaujolais and fresh bread ripped, not sliced. Clay, dirt, wind, grass, and everything that lies above and below. My pieces in this show explore two different landscapes, the canyon light of city streets and the messy edge where city and country collide. Museo Gallery is in Langley, Whidbey Island, 215 First Street, 98260. The opening is Saturday October 6th from 5-7 and the show continues through October 28th. Hours: 11-5 Wednesday – Monday, Sunday 12-5.

Relic Iskra Print
“Relic,” archival pigment print, 15 x 15 inches

Digital Maneuvers at SAM Gallery presents Kate Sweeney, Troy Gua, Stephen Rock and me, in a show exploring the paths from analog to digital and back again, each of us testing the boundaries of media in different ways. This is the first time I have shown Flatbed, inspired by one of my helpless crushes on a large Industrial Object.

Flatbed print by Iskra
“Flatbed,” archival pigment print, 22×30 inches

I hope to see you at the opening this First Thursday, October 4, 6-7:30 SAM Gallery, 1300 1st Ave, 98101.

Upcoming, some surprises. I hosted the Port of Seattle for a video interview in my studio this week – Yikes!  It’s a long trail from the inner space of making art to talking to the public in front of a camera. (Note to self: Writing is not the same as talking. Maybe I should get out more and practice?) Speaking of which, if you have not yet made it to Taste Restaurant to see ColorBath, give me a shout, and I will be happy to meet you there and explain it all over a glass of wine.

Introducing the Heavy Metal Hydrant Suite: Limited Edition Industrial Prints from Iskra

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My hydrant iskra collection
Meet Iowa No.4, My personal Fire hydrant

It is time to come clean about fire hydrants: I love them. In a world teetering between fire and flood, with catastrophe pending on every front, I do love a piece of heavy metal I cannot lift. I have my own brilliant yellow hydrant in front of my house, and it makes me happy every time I come home and see it there, surrounded by equally yellow dandelions. I feel safe. Put together with flawless arrangements of bolts and screwplates and circles and cones and handed down through hundreds of years from men with rough hands and wrenches, the hydrant is unarguably TRUE. Hydrants are valiant, like German Shepherds, and they have no existential doubts, although I do think they are vain. It’s a quiet form of dandyism, but think they enjoy the ornaments essential to their functioning – the lovely multicolored chains and hats and bits of metal that festoon from arm to arm.

Now, ulp, I have one inside my house. How do you say no in the middle of a birthday party when someone says We Have A Present for You, it’s on a truck, how about this corner? Well, you say yes! It’s the Autumnal blazing happiness yellow of sunflowers and pear apples and drowsy honeybees. It’s pettable, and clean, and it comes with its own little tag indicating that it is #4. Its presence in my house makes me realize the Heavy Metal Hydrant Suite can’t wait any longer to meet the world. [Read more…]

ColorBath Opening Reception at Taste August 9th

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El Lobo Grande tugboat print by Iskra
El Lobo Grande, limited edition archival pigment print, 48 x 24 inches © Iskra Johnson

Iskra Johnson in ColorBath

Reception Thursday August 9th, 6-7:30

at Taste Restaurant at Seattle Art Museum

1300 First Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101

This solo show is an immersion into color and light and the alchemy of reflection and refraction in the Pacific Northwest harbor. Preview the work at SAM Gallery.

Show continues through November 5th. Open Weds-Sun 11-5, Thurs 11-9.

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