The Art of Ben Johnson

2009-12-01T16:02:00.001-08:00

Well, I’ve been away from the blog for a while now, So much to share over the past few months, but frankly, I’ve found it hard to slow down enough to sit in front of the computer. The big news is that this summer, Elizabeth and I moved to Tucson, Arizona from our home of many years in southern New Jersey. It’s a pretty sweeping change, but a welcome one, and already, Tucson is feeling like home.

In fact, our move was spurred on by an urge for a change. Elizabeth and I were looking for a landscape that would offer up something new, that would forge new perspectives in our daily lives and in our creative processes. Though we love the east coast, western mountains were calling us, and in September of 2008, while traveling and camping in southeastern Arizona to study the incredible variety of birds here, the Sonoran Desert spoke to me. I found Tucson to be a comfortable and artistically oriented city, and I felt like this particular corner of the country was poised to offer up something entirely strange and wonderful for us.

In the few months that we’ve lived here, we’ve fallen in love with Tucson. The bird watching is incredible, the city is very open and welcoming, and the variety of landscape is almost overwhelming. I’ve been enchanted by the changing light on the Catalina mountains, seeing color in ways I’ve never known. I’ve found new stillness in the aging saguaros, and I’ve been stretched by skies that go on and on and on.

Moving implies change, and our relocation certainly has brought about plenty of it, but my connection to the east coast remains strong. I plan to continue exhibiting with the galleries that I have developed strong connections with, and I also look forward to the opportunities that will arise both back east, and now potentially, here in the southwest.

It’s an exciting time, and now that I’m relatively settled and the studio is back in it’s stride, I look forward to posting again regularly, to keep the flow of news and events coming, along with sharing the curious and stirring details of life here in the desert as they unfold.

Bring on the wonder!

All the best, Ben

2009-03-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

Towards Tucson (After Cezanne), oil on panel, 11"x14"

This is a new painting that came out of one of my hikes up Madera Canyon, just south of Tucson, last September. The light coming over the mountain behind me was so delicate in the canyon, but was already burning strong on the grasslands and desert in the direction of Green Valley and Tucson. The overall composition is a hybrid of inspiration, also drawing from one of Cezanne's beautiful renderings of the iconic Mont Sainte-Victoire.

Paul Cezanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1885-1887

source: wikipedia commons

I just love the way that Cezanne hugs the shape of the mountain with that arching pine. I feel as if the tree is saying "Look... Look at this!" while giving the whole painting a wonderful sense of motion. It's such a solid mountain. Unmoving. But the sweeping branches tell a story of wind and seasons sweeping across the rock face of the land, and Aix below. It's that energy that I was after in Towards Tucson, which is a part of an exhibition at Artist's House Gallery in Philadelphia that honors the influence of Cezanne and corresponds with the Cezanne and Beyond show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Best, Ben

Awareness

2008-11-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

On David Sibley's blog, David posted a link to an "Awareness Test" on Youtube. It's fascinating. You should probably watch it before reading on... I'd hate to spoil it for you. It only takes a minute.

I'll wait.

So, how'd you do? I felt so proud of myself for counting the 13 passes, but of course, the bear....

David in his blog post discusses how the test makes it clear that we so often miss things that we're not looking for. Specifically, rare birds in the field. It's a point well made, and I think he makes a clear case for the immense number of rare birds that are out there, but that we just plain don't see... Birds that are out of our radar, sometimes even when we are looking for them.

I was personally intrigued by a very specific part of the Awareness Test.... The narration. Taking the test, we miss the dancing bear, until the voice-over clues us in to look again. It makes me think about the forces in our lives that direct our attention towards things that we might otherwise miss... the figurative and literal voices that say to us " Did you see the moonwalking bear?". Art is one of those important voices, as it invites us to look again at things that we thought we perfectly understood, and reveals the unexpected. Art and creativity is... in this way especially, not at all simply a luxury, as it is so often treated... It's a key player in our ongoing development of awareness. There are delightful mysteries hidden everywhere, and art is one way that we bring them to light.

Create on,

Ben

A proud day for America, and for the world

2008-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

"Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
For that is the true genius of America – that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. "

-Barack Obama: Election Night 2008

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGx3Kc

November's Here!

2008-10-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Orchard Oriole, oil on panel, 6"x8", 2008

It's absolutely true! I can't believe that November is already here! I'm working away in the studio these days, finishing up a number of paintings like this Orchard Oriole to be exhibited in December and January at Artist's House Gallery in Philadelphia. Also, I'm spending every morning I can muster to bird in these waning days of peak variation among fall migrants. My new favorite birding spot has been Palmyra Cove, a much lauded network of trails at the base of the Tacony- Palmyra Bridge on the Jersey side of the Delaware River. It's a preserve well known for it's birding opportunities, but somehow, it took me a while to come around to discovering it for myself. Mornings that I wasn't shooting down the Garden State Parkway in the pre dawn dark towards Cape May, I'd hit Pennypacker Park, Hopkins Pond, Newton Creek, or the Cooper River, all within a yawn of our house. But, my first trip out to Palmyra (maybe a yawn and a half away) was such a beautiful hike, and yielded such great birding, that it's been my spot these past few weeks. Some cool mornings the willows were just dripping with kinglets and late season warblers. I'm looking forward to seeing what the coming winter will be like at the preserve. I love to watch specific places change with the seasons.

Till next time,

Peace to all, Ben

2008-09-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

Conversation is golden, in all of its forms, verbal, physical, written, recorded, personal, fictional, factual, unintentional, subtle, and unexpected... conversation is at the heart of who we are as people, as people thoroughly alive. One of the things I love about teaching, when I'm running a class in painting or drawing, is how the teaching, the conversation with my students, enlivens the whole act of art making for me in a new way. When my wife Elizabeth and I talk about our projects (As I think about it now, there's rarely a time that we're not talking about our art-forms in one way or another...) it's that talk that keeps the fire in furnace going for us both. When I'm out bird watching, and I run into other birders on the trail, though we may be complete strangers... conversation is often surprisingly easy, discussing sightings and other birding experiences that so often seamlessly swerves into personal life. Through my many wonderful friendships, family connections, and casual acquaintances, I am reminded again and again of the regenerative power of conversation. What a simple act... And how utterly powerful.

It's in that spirit that I'm starting this blog. There are the regularly random thoughts, the more buoyant inspirations, and the ever present questions that I've been wanting a place to house properly, for myself as well as for readers. Be you as casual as I am in wandering the blogosphere and its myriad of offerings, or be you hard core bloggers, I hope that in finding yourself here, there might be something fun, engaging, or maybe even thought provoking and enlivening....

I have it in mind that this blog will focus on art, art making, and bird watching, as I am a painter, and an admittedly somewhat obsessive birder... But I suspect that more than a hint of various other topics will sneak in.... A really good new Indian restaurant, a great place in south Jersey to throw in a kayak, or how not to learn how to play the acoustic guitar.... It's all prone to show up here.... The wandering mind knows no fences. So, I'm not exactly sure right now what form this blog will take, but I think that's part of the interest for me in starting it... And as with all things, it will develop in it's own time, and take shape as it materializes, but for now, may I welcome you to my blog.

Thanks for reading. I hope to do my part in keeping the big conversation going.

Peace,

Ben