Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Engineer To Artist
Johnson enjoys attention to abstraction
Gary Johnson first learned about art as a consumer, not a creator. “Anyone can go to a Hobby Lobby or some of the many national brand furniture stores and purchase an inexpensive print to go with their decor,” he says. “Heck, that’s what my wife and I did for years. As we got a little older, we realized that those prints never appreciated in value and, in fact, depreciated to the point where you had to give them away when you decided they no longer fit your style of decorating.
“We then purchased some quality original paintings during my working career and were really happy we did; we still have every one of them and they have stayed in style for some reason.”
Johnson, who retired to Northwest Arkansas after visiting his daughter here for more than 15 years, might seem the unlikeliest of artists. Originally from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, he has a college degree in mechanical engineering, and his career was spent as an engineer and senior level manager.
“Interestingly, my career had some influence on my creating art: I do love to paint older things mechanical like steam engines, old rusty cars, architectural pieces like bridges and buildings,” he says. “I’ve liked art for as long as I can remember; however, the making part became particularly strong in my decision-making process while living in the Pacific Northwest.”
After years of buying art, Johnson says, he finally told his wife he thought he could make her something instead.
“She about laughed herself to death thinking I could produce art,” he remembers. “Anyway, long story short, I took a six-week beginners class in watercolor, and the rest is history. I got hooked really badly in trying to make some decent pieces. It took a while as watercolor isn’t the easiest of mediums to learn. But after several years of continually painting and taking a few workshops, I finally started to produce acceptable pieces.”
Johnson says although he occasionally works in acrylics, “I think I view myself as a watercolorist.” And having always appreciated abstract paintings, he set out to learn from one of the leading abstract painters in the U.S., John Salminen from Duluth, Minn.
“In a one-week workshop, I learned how to construct an abstract through a designed approach that made a lot of sense to me,” Johnson says. “Since then I’ve employed many of the things I learned from that workshop as well as added my own techniques to create colorful pieces that people enjoy and that have brought me some notoriety. I now also teach an abstract watercolor workshop for those intermediate watercolor painters who would like to learn a disciplined approach that they can employ to create an abstract.”
In spite of covid-19, Johnson is having a very good year. He’s been juried into two shows in the Kansas City area — a small works national exhibition at the Kansas City Stockyards Gallery through Jan. 8 and a virtual exhibit, “The State of the Arts,” at the R.G. Endres Gallery in Prairie Village — and his work is on show through December at Local Color Studio and Gallery, 275 S. Archibald Yell Blvd. in Fayetteville.
“As always, any artist would like art patrons to become collectors of their art. That being said … I hope [viewers] look at my work as something they would be proud to display in their home for friends and family to see and enjoy.”