Iskra Fine Art

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Spotlight North Studio Tour Preview Part 2 + New Spring Stationery

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Ballast of Light pencil drawing by Iskra
Ballast of Light, pencil and graphite drawing

 Spotlight North Studio Tour Preview Part 2

As the studio tour approaches I am framing the last pieces, a task which always takes far longer than anticipated. It seems there is often something that could be revised, and before I know it it is 1 AM and I am blowing graphite dust off of plexiglass. Falling graphite easily becomes a fingerprint, which might be my new signature. Insert facepalm.

The 3 small egg drawings are all egg-sized, matted and framed in polished glass and clips ready to slip into an 8×10 frame. One has pre-sold, and I hope to have one more completed by end of week. My hope is that they are hung above the frying pan, just out of reach of splattering grease. . .

I have also framed three sequences created with washes of ink, graphite and colored chalk. These are miniatures, roughly 2×3″, matted with glass and backing to fit an 8×10 frame. I think of these as quiet conversations. They happen late at night, when images emerge from experiments in media, my new favorite being water soluble graphite. They have the scale and feel of etchings or lithographs, although they are one of a kind. [Read more…]

Save the Date! Spotlight North Artist Studio Tours 2026

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Petal and Cloud, graphite and pencil drawing
Petal and Cloud, graphite and pencil drawing © Iskra Johnson 2026

 

I am excited to announce the 2026 Spotlight North Studio Tour May 16-17. I have been hard at work preparing for this event, which is an opportunity for neighbors, friends, and a wider community to meet North Seattle artists in their native environment. What I love about the open studio environment is that I can show work from every phase of my career: the finished, the unfinished, and the experimental. I like nothing better than talking to people about process and media and seeing how people respond to new directions.

Each artist will have their individual studio open from noon to five. The map will go live on the Spotlight North website in May, and there will will be another post coming in May with additional previews of work I will be showing. This time I will be offering framed and semi-framed drawings (protected with glass and clips) as well as my ongoing print series, framed miniatures ranging from botanical to abstract, and a new card line just introduced this week. [Read more…]

Iskra December Shows, and New Forest Series Prints and Stationary

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I don’t know how you celebrate Halloween, but I spent the evening with small humans disguised as dinosaurs, observing the effect of sugar on developing metabolism. In an adult dinosaur, the consumption of three Almond Joys and a slice of pumpkin pie results in near-immediate narcolepsy. In a child of three it means competing for gold in Bouncing Off the Wall. . . for hours. I am now (almost) recovered from the excitement, and busy preparing work for the holiday shows.
 
In December I will be part of two events to lift the spirit. I hope you will join me at SAM Gallery for a first look at Gathering on Thursday, December 4, 5:30-6:30 pm, or for the artist’s reception on Saturday, December 20, 2-4 pm.

Iskra Johnson and Katie Metz in Gathering at SAM Gallery

I am looking forward to joining the artists at Building C for the December Open House as a guest of Meegan McKiernan. This thriving hub of artists is a mainstay of the Ballard art scene, and I love being part of the community during the holiday season.

Open House at Building C 

Saturday, December 13th, from 2-9pm  4818 14th Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98107

“The big brown warehouse across from the Ballard Office Max” at Leary Ave NW & 14th Ave NW. More information and directions at the Building C website.
 
At the open studio I’ll be offering a variety of cards from my England, architectural and botanical lines, prints in sleeves or framed to suite a range of budgets, and the Water Tower Project prints and book. I have completed several new sets of forest cards (see below) that make lovely winter or solstice greetings. 

 

Forest Cards

Leaf Sequence [Read more…]

“My City’s Filthy”: Vanishing Seattle at Bumbershoot!

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Industrial Nocturne Ashgrove Cement No. 7
Industrial Nocturne (Ashgrove No.7) | Watercolor and photography, limited edition archival pigment print
 

Vanishing Seattle Comes to Bumbershoot!

I am excited to be in Bumbershoot for the first time in many years! Curated by Cynthia Brothers of Vanishing Seattle, “My City’s Filthy“ includes the work of 60 artists in a show that pays tribute to the vanishing grit, authenticity and history of our city. August 30-9.1 at A/NT gallery. I especially appreciate that we will have a real catalog of the show we can hold in our hands, available at the show during Bumbershoot and afterwards via Asterism @asterism_books. 
 
I’m drawn to industrial portraits because of the inherent tensions in the subjects. This portrait of AshGrove cement features plumes from one of the most toxic and energy intensive products known. You are looking at something literally filthy, yet at the same time, in its particular architectural forms, and powerful presence in the landscape, quite beautiful. At this point, though we may dream of living in agrarian huts in a post-industrial utopia, cement is indispensable, a backbone of our construction and building industries. You cannot yet make cement via AI. And although Seattle is known for the very recent glossiness of high tech, our much longer history is of logging, mining, labor organizing, avant garde art, garage bands (HELlo Kurt!) and a whole lotta other actual physical making.
Dream Ship, limited edition pigment print, create from my original photography
 
The image above, from the Floating World series, is based on a photograph I took while going down the Duwamish River in a kayak, eye level with the hull of the boat. The first time I floated the Duwamish I was barely 20, on a tugboat with a saxophone player named Charlie and his girlfriend, listening alternately to his jazz riffs and Keith Jarrett’s The Köln Concert. My romance with the river, and all things maritime, resurfaced through my artwork in 2010. In the context of a show that does not shrink from nostalgia I think it is just fine to reflect on “the river of time. . .”
 
The opening reception for My City is Filthy was a wonderful cross-generational gathering. I found myself reminiscing with old friends and new about the vanished moments of places in our sometimes challenging love affair with this city. One thing that struck me about the diverse work is that much of it is made by people between 20-40, many of whom did not grow up here. In spite of the messaging that the hyper development in Seattle, (the proposed-use signs on every block for the density that is supposed to bring us affordable housing), is for those 20-40 yearolds, they are not actually that keen on it. They’d like the dive bar and $3 shots back, please, and you can take your 350 square foot “one bedroom” for $2,300 in a 7 story cube of identical apartments back to the suburb factory where it came from.
 

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Iskra Summer Shows 2024

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Looking At You, mixed process print, variable sizes, © Iskra Johnson

I’ve just dropped new work off at SAM Gallery for the upcoming show, “Splash!” opening August 10, from 2-4 PM. Work from my Immersions series will be included with water-inspired works from SAM Gallery artists Cara Jaye, Joe Max Emminger, Andy Eccleshall and Kate Protage. 

While I am in England a show based on Seattle landscape featuring four of my industrial and maritime works will open at Chatwin Arts. Keep your eye on their Instagram for the opening!

Eventide, © Iskra Johnson

Downtown was beautiful this morning. Trucks roared, dumpsters clanged, fish flew and tourists flocked the waterfront. Shifting double exposures refracted from windows in the sky. Pigeons! There is a palpable excitement this week as Seattle Art Fair opens and greets the art spirit.

When I got home there was a note from Seattle Office of Arts and Culture about Hope Corps. I’m sharing it here, in hopes you will respond or pass it along. This is a promising sign of new opportunities for artists in the city:

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) invites individual artists, cultural producers, arts administrators, creative workers, community groups, and arts and cultural organizations to apply to Hope Corps.

You can apply by proposing projects that generate career opportunities for the local creative workforce, and contribute to the well-being of Seattle’s downtown community with community-driven projects, events, performances, and more.

Envisioned as an economic recovery program for Seattle’s creative workforce, Hope Corps connects under- and unemployed artists, creative workers, and culture keepers with career opportunities that benefit the public. The 2025 Hope Corps program is part of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s Downtown Activation Plan, and funding will go towards projects that employ creative workers through activations in Seattle’s downtown neighborhoods:

Belltown, Central Downtown, Chinatown-International District, Denny Triangle, Pioneer Square, Stadium District.

Proposed projects should be unique events or activations, taking place in 2025 in street-level, accessible, outdoor or otherwise publicly visible spaces that provide engaging experiences for the public and bring audiences downtown.

Grants range from $5,000 – $50,000 to support creative worker wages and project expenses.

If you do nothing else in the next few days, do go swimming! And if you aren’t at the lake, see you at the Art Fair…

The Sailboat New Media by Iskra