Marble sculptor, Eric
Johnson, born in Nova Scotia Canada, first
concentrated on carving in wood but later found stone, particularly marble,
more responsive and "life-like". I would like to create works
of art that show people relating to people in a way that everyone who
sees it will feel, "Yes! Life could be this way!"
Johnson's abstract forms are
inspired by nature ~ the river, the mountains, the ocean. In his stone
sculpture is a softness of form, a sensuous beauty that makes you want
to reach out and touch. "That's what you have to do to appreciate
sculpture ~ touch to see, feel for understanding."
Eric Johnson's stone
sculptures and bronzes can be found in outdoor public sculpture gardens
and many private collections. His one man shows include exhibitions in
the Houston Gallery in Vail and Studio One in Rochester. He has been
featured in Harcourt's in San Francisco and galleries in Taos, Seattle
and New York.
In 1982 he opened the
Redstone Art Center in the Colorado Rockies just west of Aspen.
Carving in his studio, next to the gallery, he became famous, drawing
art lovers from around the world who enjoy the opportunity to visit with
a true artist and sculptor at work.
Drawn back to the Oregon
Coast in 1997, his inspirational source, he prefers to stay close to the
environment best for him to work and live.
In 2001 and 2002 he was
invited to participate in month long international sculpture symposiums
- the first in Lebanon and the second in Russia. Each year since, he has
returned to Russia to work at the Union of Russian Artists' Retreat in
Pereslavl-Zalessky north of Moscow.
In 2003 Eric and his wife Sherry opened
the Johnson Gallery in
Port Orford, Oregon, a small town on the southern Oregon coast known
for the arts.
The gallery is in half of the downstairs
of their old two story home. You are invited to stop and visit anytime.
His philosophy is reflected
in his poetry:
Form as Prose
Like as paper words rap upon each
other
Painting ~~~~ Life and Love,
So form upon mass flows shape into
space
Sculpting ~~~~ Love with Life.
