Evanston artists exhibit at College of Lake County

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Karl and Indira Johnson

‘Nature’s Duality’

Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art at the College of Lake County, 19351 W. Washington St., Grayslake

8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Friday; 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday; and 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24-April 8

An opening reception will be held from 7-9 p.m. Feb. 24, and will include refreshments and music by harpist Daphne Freund

The gallery is free and open to the public

(847) 543-2240 or visit http://gallery.clcillinois.edu

Article Extras

Updated: February 22, 2012 3:49PM

After 43 years of marriage, artists Karl and Indira Johnson have experienced “Nature’s Duality” in their lives and their artwork.

That duality will be on display next week with an exhibition of 39 pieces of their art at the Robert T. Wright Community Gallery of Art at the College of Lake County, Grayslake.

“ ‘Nature’s Duality’ represents my wife and myself and our 43 years of working together through the challenges of art and egos,” explained Karl Johnson, “and how we consciously and subconsciously influence each other in our art and motivation.”

Both contemporary artists, Karl specializes in surreal images using watercolors and oils, some painted on glass using needles and syringes, while Indira creates mixed media sculpture with found objects combined with ceramic hands and feet, in a symbolism that has roots from her childhood in Mumbai, India.

The couple met at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1960s and have evolved over a four-decade journey that began in Chicago, traveled to India, Sweden and later Colorado, only to return to Evanston. There they would raise two sons while continuing their combined love of art.

Found beauty

“I see beauty in objects (that are) discarded by society but show markings of strength of survival,” Indira said of such found items as chains, funnels and wheels she uses in her 16 pieces of art at the exhibition. “I interpret them in a new way and give them a new energy. You can find spirituality in anything because there is sacredness in everyday life.”

She builds on that spirituality using a Buddha, which she describes as a universal symbol of peace — and is something she specializes in in her art and as a peace consultant at Changing Worlds, teaching elementary students nonviolence through the arts. It’s a theme in her work, “Energy Reboot #1,” as well as in her largest papier mache sculpture of a partially painted gold Buddha with lottery tickets trapped inside his belly.

Another piece is titled “Satyagraha,” which is a Sanskrit word emblazoned on a large ceramic foot which translated means “holding firmly to the truth.” The foot is also a recurring symbol in her work.

“The foot is a universal symbol of the path someone takes in order to achieve,” said Indira, who exhibited her work in 2003 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, among other exhibitions. “In so many cultures, you walk in someone else’s footprints and you are connected to the earth and energy.”

Indira has been connected with husband, Karl, since their artful meeting four decades ago. It was at the Art Institute of Chicago, and following fellowships in Mumbai; Lund, Sweden; and Denver, Colo.; where he developed his interest in surrealism. Since then, he has created a distinct technique of using multiple layers of oil and watercolor paints to capture the imagery he sees in the rhythm and dynamics of nature and the sciences.

Varied studies

“I like painting on glass, at the same time, I enjoy canvas, paper and wood,” said Karl, 67. He’s also studied cartooning and animation at the former Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and later, paper restoration with anthropologists at the University of Denver, enabling him to teach museum curators how to manage and maintain collections of paper, wood, bronze, and stone.

“My art is surrealistic, cartoonish in form. I paint with needles and syringes in a more loose, less controlled form, but all very detailed,” Karl explained. “The images deal with social as well as humor, everyday events and pollution.”

Unlike Indira, who chooses such earthy tones as browns and reds, Karl’s color choices are across the spectrum, sometimes even being dark and moody, yet empathetic of the environment, he said. With a family background in forestry, Johnson spent 32 years at the family business, Nels Johnson Tree Experts in Evanston, until he hung up his forestry hat in 2008 to focus on his art.

“My ‘Whiteout on 94’ is imagining hitting a snowstorm on your way to Michigan,” Karl said of one of his 23 pieces at the exhibit. “You see sharp lights, and driving snow and try to capture that feeling. Some people ask me if I really used Whiteout to paint it but I treated it with layers of enamels and gouache watercolor.”

“The Elephant Walk” is more reminiscent of India, he said, and painted on glass using enamels and gouache to create texture, abstract images and fantasy.

“My wife does tremendous studies before she does her sculpture,” Karl said, “but I start out with a brushstroke, and that stimulates imagination from there.”