Bethany Johnson
Woven Landscapes
July 14 – August 18, 2012
Moody Gallery is pleased to introduce Bethany Johnson as a new artist to the gallery. Bethany’s recent work is featured in her first exhibition at Moody Gallery titled Woven Landscapes. Her meticulously rendered ink drawings are showcased as well as a large-scale wall drawing that measures approximately 6 ½’ x 13’. The drawings in Woven Landscapes “record and synthesize elements from the vast skies and rural landscape [she] encountered on an artist residency in Eastern Germany last fall”.
Johnson sates- “Each work is drawn methodically, line by line with several different colored inks. The resulting textures evoke a variety of historical referents, from antique engravings though early computer graphics, television monitors and contemporary printing technologies. While partly mimicking the disposable, reproduced document, these sheets of paper are, in fact, vessels for hours of concentrated labor and attention…While the drawings are small, their content is vast, reflecting my impulse to, much like a scientist, collect and preserve information about the complex natural world around me. The images capture and juxtapose impressive weather, immense horizons as well as close-up discoveries.”
Bethany Johnson currently lives and works in Austin, Texas and in 2011 received her Masters of Fine Art in Painting at The University of Texas, Austin. Her work has been shown in exhibitions at Champion Contemporary, Austin, TX; the Trout Museum of Art, Appleton, WI; the Creative Research Laboratory, Austin, TX; and the Light Fine Arts Gallery, Kalamazoo, MI. She has also completed residencies at the Denkmalschmiede Höfgen, Grimma, Germany in 2011 and the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT in 2010 with full fellowships.
Woven Landscapes is on view at Moody Gallery July 14 through August 18 with a reception for the artist Saturday, July 14 in conjunction with the annual ArtHouston event.