Iskra Fine Art

  • Prints
    • The Tarmac Residency: Airport Landscapes
    • Immersions | At The Shore
    • ColorBath: Images of the Harbor
    • The Floating World
    • Industrial Strength | Urban Industrial Landscape
    • The Scaffold
    • Industrial Pastorale: The Rural/Urban Landscape
    • Botanical Prints | The Natural World
    • Construction | Reconstruction : Urban Landscape
    • Infrastructure
  • Drawings
    • Pencil Drawings: Pandemic Pause
    • Drawings in Dust 1
    • Signs & Symbols (Archive)
    • Botanical Drawings (Archive)
  • Photography
    • New Work Inspired by England
    • Seattle Waterfront Park Photography
    • Architectural Photography | Construction Sites
    • American West Landscape Photography
  • Mixed Media
    • Modern Botanical | Mixed Media on Plaster
    • From the Sea | Water Paintings
    • Sleep Studies
  • Wabi Sabi Abstract
    • Minimalist Modern
    • Ink Painting Abstractions
  • Shop
    • The Water Tower Project
  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Archives for Artist Studio Visits

Open Studio Tours: Creating Sustainable Ecosystems for the Arts

June 25, 2024 by Iskra 2 Comments

Shruti Ghatak’s home painting studio

Creating a Sustainable Arts Ecosystem

The word “sustainability” is everpresent today in discussions of climate change and global warming. Less often do we hear it applied to the visual arts, which are themselves part of an ecosystem. Community support for the visual arts tends to be scattershot and fitful, reliant on the generosity of funding organizations and a handful of collectors (like Seattle’s departed Paul Allen) who, though much appreciated, can change their affections without warning or predictability. With state and local governments facing recurring deficits, arts funding is usually the last to be added and the first to be cut. Large ongoing grants from foundations most often go to established organizations like museums, theaters, schools and community associations; even if an artist competes successfully for the rare individual grant, these only fund a fraction of expenses and rarely provide ongoing support.

The path to success in art is rarely direct. Developing a meaningful body of work as an artist can require years of experimentation, skill building and detours into work that may not succeed financially but which is necessary to creative growth. For this process artists need time, a work space and opportunities to test their work in the marketplace. Artists need regular sales of their work and a growing collector base to thrive.

Today the web is increasingly accepted as the replacement for traditional art sales venues, with claims that social media and online shops make galleries obsolete. Granted, success has come to select superstars, but increasingly social media favors “influencers,” brand ambassadors and advertisers, and not actual artists, (AKA “content creators”). The algorithms of Instagram and Facebook surface primarily the minority who are already famous and successful, while offering less and less visibility to artists who need a reliable showcase where their work can connect to buyers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Artist Studio Visits, Essays, Iskra Shows, Upcoming and Past Tagged With: Artist Open Studios, Arts Ecosystem, King County Arts, Seattle arts support, Spotlight North Open Studios, STEAM City, Sustainability in the Arts

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

October 19, 2018 by Iskra Leave a Comment

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.

https://iskrafineart.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_4816.m4v

Ebey’s Landing Meditation © Iskra Johnson

 

 

Filed Under: Artist Studio Visits, Iskra Shows, Upcoming and Past Tagged With: artist studio visits, iskra interview, iskra on video, Port of Seattle, the beauty of usefulness

Last Weekend of Vashon Island Visual Artist Studio Tour (VIVA!)

May 11, 2018 by Iskra 1 Comment

Vashon garden idyll VIVA tour

This is the last weekend to visit Cathy Sarkowsky and me to see our work on the Vashon Island Artist Studio Tour (VIVA!). Last weekend was amazing. I met many new art lovers and had a rare opportunity to share my work with people directly and talk (in person, what a concept!). Cathy Sarkowsky’s garden is a dream and is rewiring my brain for green. Her brilliantly colored paintings, some made with her own ground pigments, are flying off the walls, so don’t miss this chance to visit her work and her beautifully designed studio. It will inspire you in every way.

The satellite studio where I am set up opens to the garden. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Artist Studio Visits, Iskra Shows, Upcoming and Past Tagged With: Cathy Sarkowsky, Iskra Art Shows, Iskra Studio Sale, Vashon Artist Studio Tour, VIVA

Summer Print Sale!

July 27, 2017 by Iskra Leave a Comment

The Crimson Monarch print by Iskra“The Crimson Monarch,” 15.5 x 15.5 ” 1/20, available during the Summer Print Sale

I have been super busy this summer finishing the body of work for Industrial Strength, a three-woman show opening at SAM Gallery on Wednesday September 13th. Something about wrapping up a set of work and being “done” just seems to lead to more ideas. I keep coming back to The Floating World as a source of inspiration, and each time I find something new. Sometimes all I see is the sky and the water, and sometimes I see the shore, the anchor and the fine tethers that keep one from floating away. The great ship the Crimson Monarch was moored beneath the Elliott Bay grain elevators a few months ago. By May it had rained for eight months and on the first sunny Sunday of the year I could not wait to get out to the waterfront with my camera. I fell madly in love with this ship and the way it faced the sun, owning the bay. I use real names in my ship portraits. If you want to kick back with a beverage that puts you in a nautical frame of mind and a pair of binoculars, you can follow the Crimson Monarch on shipspotting.com. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Artist Studio Visits, Iskra Shows, Upcoming and Past, Prints Tagged With: artist process, Ben Calhoun, Chittendon locks, Crimson Monarch, industrial art, nautical, Northwest artist, print sale, uncommon union, water prints

The Artful Life: A Visit with Patti King

June 20, 2016 by Iskra 6 Comments

An artful life

With the Solstice the weather in Seattle has shifted full-tilt into summer. It is hard to go inside and work in the studio when the sky opens to a clear blue. Today I am taking time away from work to reflect and write about influences and inspirations, in particular the  inspiration that comes from time spent with other artists in their studios and homes.

To prepare my mind for a writing project I like to close my eyes in the garden under the dogwood tree by the pond. There, as prisms of light sift down through the leaves onto my eyelids, I can let my thoughts wander until, with a few nudges, they begin to collect around a subject and form into sentences. This morning before starting the process of contemplation I had begun to eat an apple, and I took it with me and set it down on the arm of the chair. I settled back and drifted on the breeze of summer sounds: the clatter of lawn mowers, the whir of dragonflies and the soft shush of pampas grass. A thought emerged and with it the immediate habitual impulse to reach for my phone. So of course, eyes still shut, I reached for. . . . [Read more…]

Filed Under: Artist Studio Visits, Living With Art Tagged With: art in interiors, artist home, artist studio, fabric artist, island life, museo gallery, Patti King, shibori, whidbey Island artist

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Artist Studio Visits & Interviews

Open Studio Tours: Creating Sustainable Ecosystems for the Arts

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

Last Weekend of Vashon Island Visual Artist Studio Tour (VIVA!)

Summer Print Sale!

The Artful Life: A Visit with Patti King

Studio Visit with Muralist and Teacher Jennifer Carrasco

Life in Progress: Studio Construction

Studio Visit with Paula Gill, Bremerton Tilemaker, Printmaker, Artist

Studio Visit with Richard Kehl, Poet and Scout

Studio Visit with Fred Lisaius at Inscape

The Manganese Day

The Mystic Muse

Marking Time: Tracy Simpson and the Contemplative Art of Potato Printing

Studio Visit With Zen Teacher Anita Feng: Expanding Our Idea of What Equanimity Looks Like

New Directions in Contemplative Art: Conversations with Artists

Iskra Fine Art Blog

The creative process, conversations with artists, the contemplative impulse in art

Join Iskra’s Mailing List

Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to receive show announcements, first peek at new work and my semi-monthly blog by email. I primarily use the blog for news and updates but by signing up you will also receive the occasional newsletter and special offers for items in my shop.

Let’s Connect

  • Contact Iskra
  • How to purchase artwork
  • Iskra Fine Art Blog : The creative process, conversations with artists, the contemplative impulse in art

Join Iskra’s Mailing List

Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to receive show announcements, first peek at new work and my semi-monthly blog by email. I primarily use the blog for news and updates but by signing up you will also receive the occasional newsletter and special offers for items in my shop.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

All Images Copyright © 2025  Iskra Johnson · Site by LND · WordPress