FIREPROOF 2023
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho
collection of photographs
Summer in Idaho: heat, fire, smoke and drought, inspired this body of work, Fireproof. The images were photographed during the extreme heat of August 2023 in Craters of the Moon National Monument in eastern Idaho. Johnson chose this formerly volcanic location the previous winter while skiing across its snow covered rock. The white snow on the black lava fields reminded her of being on the glaciers in Alaska. Like a glacier, the craters are a geological feature that have been transformed by heat, melt, flow and then return to a solid. This relationship to the geology resonated with her as she reflected on her history of working with clay. The dress was made by Johnson, hand dyed with marigolds, coreopsis and cochineal then screen printed through lace with a black walnut dye. The shape of the dress was cut and sewn to mimic the fiery wings of Monarchs and Northern Flickers and embellished with copper mesh to act as armor against the elements. Covered in wet clay, dried and crisp, her skin is like the desert ground; she becomes a clay sculpture. The marigold and sage bouquet represents fire and smoke, an offering to our burning landscape. The inception of Fireproof, Summer, revealed the other bodies of work to be seasons as well. “Twelve years ago, I could not have planned this collection of works to culminate as the four seasons,” Johnson says. “I kept working and followed my gut – art making takes endurance.” As this exhibition opens we are eager for fall, a shift in temperatures and light, a break from the intense sun - the earth keeps turning, we continue to adapt and endure. Image above, Epoch 20” x 30”
“Once upon a time, there was an artist, and she loved the earth, and the earth loved her, and she laid on that deep black, danced on that deep black, made a circle of marigolds, small flames in the darkness, remembering the red-hot flow, remembering change, a requiem for all that burns. She throws a bouquet, a gift, an offering. She gathers rough stones. Like the land, she is a moving image. Like the land, she is in mourning. Like the land, she becomes something new and ancient, broken and healed, vanishing and eternal.”
Image Below, Flicker 36” x 36”
