Conversations with Karen Johnston

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Johnston.

Hi Karen, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I am a visual artist whose canvases directly mirror the unfolding of my own life: every gesture is a response to a moment atop layers and layers of choice and chance. Originally from Cincinnati, I was raised in a simple, creative environment by parents who made their living as musicians. Just one mile away, my grandparents were prolific makers, givers, and gardeners whom I loved to visit often. I was regularly doused in artistic experiences and ultimately chose a visual path, exploring different styles, media, and career avenues along the way. Graduating with a classical art education and a BFA in Illustration from Columbus College of Art and Design, I was already working full-time as a graphic designer/illustrator in the corporate world when I surprised myself by declining an illustration dream job. Instead, I moved to Boston with my best friend and brand-new husband who decided to pursue higher education. As I juggled freelance jobs, I eagerly set up a studio in our humble attic apartment and began to explore a different dream – the exploration of my own voice. Smitten with this choice, I soon made the vulnerable commitment to go fully forward as an independent fine artist. Serendipitously, I was quickly showered by a sea of firsts – my first solo show, the first sale from my new body of work, my first commission, first group show, and first art award. I then began working with small galleries and gift shops in the Boston area as I more seriously defined my practice. I also extended my artistry and love for language into the non-profit world by volunteering with an organization that helped advance literacy. Within my art journey, we moved a few places for my husband’s career, but I always (at a minimum) carved out creative space within our home in order to honor my vocation. It’s been almost 17 years since our family arrived in Nashville, and it is here that the 5 of us have cast our deepest roots.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Of course, I’ve encountered challenges along this road. Who hasn’t? Maintaining any sort of artistic authenticity over time takes attention and devotion. At all times, I let my art be whatever it needed to be (even if it mystified me) and nurtured it as best I could. I developed a loyal and sacred relationship with the artistic side of myself that ebbed and flowed over the years but one that would ultimately rise up to save me. Producing art from the center of body, mind, and spirit while raising 3 kids alongside a working husband with no nearby family support (in what was unfamiliar territory for a while) was a swift and most sincere lesson in balance. Add in a few health hurdles and the plot thickens. Thirteen years ago, a personal and acute sense of central unevenness sent me into the medical arena for answers. Doctor after doctor shook their heads with no explanation or resolution. Persisting for help, I finally met a doctor who listened and was able to properly diagnose. Yet, it was an uphill battle. Chronic afflictions and a cancer diagnosis are never a wanted outcome. The news brought me to my knees. Over the next decade, while gaining my own wellness, my husband and children would be met by significant life-altering health challenges themselves. Health journeys are consuming and exhausting – and continually destabilizing. Fortunately, our trek was also girded with grit, grace, and glimpses of spectacular silver linings. It kept us going. My art kept me going.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The driving forces of my every day intentionally find their way onto my canvas. It’s healing to tangibly work with life. It’s been a long-lasting venture with perception and response that ultimately prompted the strong bond between my art and life. Filled with layers of hope, imagination, change, and healing, my art genuinely holds my heart and I love sharing that.

I’m excited about a new venture: I am finishing-up details and settling into a brand new, home-based studio that my whole family has worked hard to ready. I’m especially grateful to family, friends, galleries, collectors, admirers, businesses, and organizations who have supported my work along the way. It feels wonderful to begin the New Year on a bright note of growth and expansion.

As valuable as it is to me to pursue personal evolution as an artist and create authentic physical pieces to share and show, I find it equally important to hold space in the community for others to experience healing, release, and expression through classes, workshops, support groups and volunteer efforts. Locally, I teach intuitive abstract painting classes at River Art Studio in Bellevue and have paintings available through Bennett Galleries Nashville. You can find other fine galleries and organizations that represent my work outside Tennessee on my website and a place to sign up to receive my newsletter as well.

So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why?
Sometimes the toughest times can teach the truest lessons. With all the ups and downs over the years, I chose and needed to focus on the ups while reaching deep into my artistic soul. I noticed that the attributes that fed my art were the same qualities that began to lift my life – courage, patience, reflection, compassion, humor, honesty, openness, discipline, intuition, expression, and gratitude. Painting and writing during these tangled times united my outer struggles with my inner strengths and brought a deeper sense of restoration. I soon started to teach workshops and intuitive abstract painting classes and began to show my paintings and writings from this phase of life. Sharing the fruits of these times not only continued to heal me but also helped to inspire and empower others. It rendered hope. Having my art on view in health and healing institutions still remains a favorite venue in which to share my work. Illness or no illness, young or grown, everyone faces peaks and valleys. Learning the language of art and flow, and using its principles alongside any rough or shiny story can produce powerful and meaningful works. It’s beautiful to see someone step forward filled with courage and inspiration and help guide them along their creative path of expression. It’s a joy for both of us.

Early on in my unfolding as a patient and caregiver, I also started a support group at our church that I have led since 2011 for patients with cancer and/or life-altering illnesses and their caregivers. It felt natural to extend offerings of connection and encouragement in an attempt to uplift and refill what so often gets depleted. Over and over, life seems to present many of the same opportunities that my empty canvas offers. The more color, balance, light, and care I add to either one, the richer they become. I am fascinated by the similarities between what it takes to make a good painting and what it takes to create a better world and I’m intent on bringing value to both. Art and life. Life and art. Both are bursting with possibility.

Consider this: the idea that art isn’t a mere product but a practice! It’s a personal process that sparks original expressions of hope and history from the heart. Creating and/or appreciating any art form should never be reserved as a privilege, but rather as a gift to be readily shared as a healing necessity for life. Here, try this: take pause in front of any blank surface with a favorite art tool in hand. Draw in a long, slow breath while focusing on a particular intention. Imagine the light of that intention rising and expanding, stretching far beyond your reach. As you gradually release your breath, let that light envelop your entire being, gently connecting your head to your heart to your hands. Now bring your awareness back to the tool in hand. This is where it all begins, but please be forewarned: the first mark you make might just lead to another and then another… add in a little color and watch out! It may well change your life. The beauty lies in where you’ll allow the process to take you. It’s all up to you!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.studiokarenjohnston.com
• Instagram: @karenjohnstonartist
• Facebook: karenjohnstonartist