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Walking into d’Elaine Johnson’s home and studio, one gets the sense of walking into another world. A hanging carved frog with a motion sensor croaks a greeting at the door, which is opened by the diminutive Johnson. She seems as if she can’t wait to share her world, and what a world it is. Her art lines a hallway that leads into a living room where a wall of windows looks out over the Puget Sound. It is no wonder that much of Johnson’s work centers around water, with the subject on display daily.
Johnson began scuba diving as one of the first female divers in the 1950’s. “Diving really opened up most of the world to me, the beauty, the fluid space, all the new colors, like the dancing ballet motion of the plants underwater.”
Though she has loved art since childhood and showed aptitude even in first grade, she found her style by accident while working as a teacher at Queen Anne High School. “There was a full packet of rice paper to be thrown out, because it had some paint splattered on it, but I just loved the way the paint looked like it was moving around, fuzzy with no definition or edges, and I thought, ‘that’s what I see underwater!’”
She describes her process as very playful. “I use packs and packs of rice paper, and dump and pour and have fun, like a little kid. [It’s exciting] watching the water and the merging of the paint. It has a life of its own without me controlling it. I paint on top of these accidents. All my paintings start with accidents, letting nature work for me.”
This creates the base of her work. She then uses wallpaper paste to adhere the paper to boards; “I gave up canvases because by the time you get to the show they’re loose or punctured or the oil paint is yellow,” she said. Johnson uses every scrap of rice paper in creating her pieces. “It’s like making the stage and then I add the subject of whatever I’m painting about.” She uses lines and repetitive figures inspired by world mythology, cave paintings, and of course, the sea. On choosing subjects, she asserts, “It leads me, I don’t lead it.”
She does exert control over some steps of her process: the canvas and the frame. “When I first started out, I was going to junk stores and using old frames. My birth as a public artist was at the Pike Place Market working with Jack Corsaw. One of the artists had the idea of bringing the painting forward. So I finally worked so I could do that with my work. I wanted a space for the picture to breathe on its own and not let the frame dominate it.” She then walks me through a maze of bookshelves and more art to a woodshop. Johnson has multiple radios throughout her home blaring classical music. “There is something about music. It lets my mind float creatively. It creates an environment of not being alone.” One chimes forth in the wood shop, where she demonstrates the tool she uses to cut perfect 45 degree angles to make her frames. She hardly seems 91 as she spritely balances and lifts her foot to a pedal which she uses to chop the wood.
“My work is sturdy and strong and everything I do is for longevity,” she declares. Longevity and legacy seem important to Johnson. She has been involved in making Edmonds a cultural center in the state. She served on the inaugural planning committee for the Edmonds Arts Festival, and was part of various initiatives over the years to establish the city as a welcoming place for artists to work and live and a destination for all who are interested in the arts.
She is also invested in Edmonds College. She and her husband created a trust with their land to be expressly used for arts programs at the school. “Art is the last to get funding and the first to get cut out. Through the trust, which goes on then forever, my life continues forever as an educator. [The trust gives] the support that society does not give the arts, and it’s in my home town. You have to leave it to someone, and this way I continue what I am, through the college, even though I’m not here.” She hopes the college will grow and become a place where people of all ages and from all artistic disciplines can flourish.
World Waters opened at the Edmonds Art Festival Gallery in the Frances Anderson Center on Monday, April 3 and Johnson’s celebrated piece Silent Sea — a recent artwork donation to the City of Edmonds Public Art Collection — is a highlight in the show. Come and meet d’Elaine at one next two art walks and see her work in person.
April Art Walk – Thursday, April 20, 5 p.m.
May Art Walk – Thursday, May 18, 5 p.m.
World Waters runs April 3 through May 22
Edmonds Art Festival Gallery in the Frances Anderson Center
700 Main St., Edmonds
— By Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray is a freelance writer thankful to call Edmonds home. When she’s not busy wrangling her two kids (and husband), you can find her playing ukulele and singing with The Band LeLe.
Ms. Johnson was my art teacher at Roosevelt High School in Seattle in the late 1960’s. She was always very supportive and enthusiastic about my forays into Art.
A couple of friends and I spent an evening in my mother’s garage with a big box of plastic army soldiers and a couple of cigarette lighters, lighting the soldiers on fire one at a time just to watch the flaming drips. As they burned down we stuck them together until we had a pyramid about a foot high. This was at the height of the war in Vietnam and I suppose it could have been interpreted as an anti-war statement. It was really just three pyromaniac teenagers having fun with fire.
The next morning I took it to Ms. Johnson. She really seemed to like it and I left it with her. A week or so later I was walking past the display case in the front hall of RHS and there, in the very center of the display case was “the statement”. Ms. Johnson had put it there for all to see.
I love that story! I wish I had known about it before visiting her studio; I bet she still has it!
Yet another reason why Edmonds is the center of the Snohomish County art world!
I have had the privilege of knowing d’Elaine since my sophomore year at Roosevelt High School. What an awesome teacher she was!! I believe that’s when my artwork really blossomed into a career in construction engineering drafting using CAD. I worked and taught in the profession for about 10 years before retiring. I later became involved with Path with Art in about 2009-2022, but now am focused on helping care for my aging parents. I continue to produce small pieces but have large pieces of my own work. It was so nice to hear from d’Elaine Johnson this year, and I am excited to support her studio this fall for her annual open house at Pisces Studio in Edmonds. Hope to see you all there….
My parents both passed away this past year, and I inherited Ms. Johnson’s beautiful work entitled, “God-The-Father.” It proudly graced the walls of my parent’s house for over forty-five years. The vibrant colors were a a proud jewel adorning our home. Today it is proudly displayed in my and my husband’s home. Thank you, d’Elaine for your lovely creation. It is as beautiful now as the first day I saw it. There was no option to share a photo, but I would have loved to show her that her work is still exquisite, appreciated and cherished. Thank you, d’Elaine!