Local artist captures memories of sublime
Anna Nguyen
Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: Lifestyles
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The exhibition, titled "Things Remembered, Things Forgotten," features local artist Tanya Johnston's innovative pieces, assembling memories and illusions and the relationship between her personal stories and generalizations of human experiences. Although the collection indicates Johnston's pensive journey in the past and her family's past by using personal images and memories, the artwork is also presented as an idea, she said.
If viewers look at the boxes, they might be able to guess the details of the image or memory shown, but the photos also function as archetypical images, Johnston said.
"[For example], the photos of the old lady and the baby could be anyone's family," she said.
The boxes are crafted in a way to show layers of transparencies and Johnston's play on space. The photos, some of which came from family albums and some taken by Johnston, also are deliberately blurred to create fuzzy memories, which further complicate the clarity of the captured memories.
The artwork is a continuation of Johnston's master's of fine arts thesis show last April in the UA Fine Arts Center Gallery. Her thesis exhibition, titled "Meditative Spaces," also features many of the pieces she used in her thesis show along with four new pieces, she said.
The collection featured in the Four Square Fine Art Gallery is a "representation of my work in Fayetteville," said Johnston, who noted that the gallery is a nice addition in Fayetteville.
"I work in layers, and it is [an important aspect] in my work," she said.
In addition to creating boxes and paintings, she also designs figurative books, which, like her artwork, display her recurring motifs of memories and stories presented in the other pieces. Despite the three different mediums, all of the work possesses still and meditative qualities, and "when presented as a group, the elements, books, paintings and boxes present the people, places and stories that make up my personal mythology," according to the artist's Web site, www.tanyajohnston.net.
Johnston received her bachelor's degree with an emphasis in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2002. She returned to Fayetteville to pursue her master's degree at the UA and graduated in 2008 with a major in painting and a minor in design. She now lives in Farmington and works as a freelance artist and is "always working on something," she said.
"Things Remembered, Things Forgotten" will be displayed at the Four Square Fine Art Gallery until Saturday, Nov. 15. The gallery, located on 112 W. Center St. Suite 130, is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.
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