Kathryn Jill Johnson

Department Chair of Art,
Art History & Design
Professor of Art,
Painting & Drawing

Contact

301 Sparkman Drive
Wilson Hall
Room 160
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

256.824.2592
johnsok1@uah.edu

Biography

While I am influenced by the southern tradition of narrative figure painting, my work focuses mainly on drawing. My drawings have paint, of course, but they are not really paintings—the drawn line is what tells the tale. I use painting and mixed media elements enhance the mark making, and reassert the shallow space of the picture plane. The pops and veils of color and the stained surfaces provide a ragged sort of embellishment. But line is what makes the edges and directs the characters and each mark provides a kind of unstable punctuation.

My drawings are informed by psychoanalytic theory, symbolist poetry, and absurdist humor. Each work has a cast of characters, images and elements, in flattened landscapes or ambiguous spaces. I set up these vignettes as a way of investigating what makes people be the way they are, but I am the worse sort of detective. I just like to pile up clues and rearrange them into melancholic jokes, farcical calamities and occasional moments of grace.

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Website


Education

  • M.F.A., Drawing & Painting, University of Georgia, 2003
  • B.A., Fine Arts, Summa Cum Laude (Studio Art), University of South Florida, 1999

Exhibitions & Presentations

  • The Valdosta National, Virtual Exhibition, Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, Valdosta State University, Valdosta GA (Juror: Claire Dempster)
  • The Red Clay Survey, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville ,AL (Jurors: Peter Baldia, David Reyes)
  • Shifty, Fitton Center for Creative Arts, Hamilton, OH (3 person)
  • Recent Work, Firehouse Arts Center, Longmont, CO (3 person)
  • Thrownness, Rosewood Gallery, Kettering , OH (Solo)
  • Imitations, North Charleston City Gallery, North Charleston , North Charleston, SC (Solo)
  • Dissonance, CNS Artspace 1, College of Southern Nevada, North Las Vegas, NV (Solo)
  • The Valdosta National, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA (Juror: Michael McFalls)
  • Chautauqua National "Truths or Consequences" Giles Gallery, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY (Juror: James Grubola)
  • “Time Will Tell” Coburn Gallery, Ashland University, Ashland, OH (Jurors: Judy Takács, Robert Villamagna)

Expertise

  • Drawing
  • Painting
  • Mixed Media

Portfolio Gallery