Celia Johnson
Bauhaus Influences, A Documentary
Chapel Hill.
Strong color and distinct form are always elements at play in my work, where I conduct ongoing investigations into the effects of color and form in various states of position and collision on the picture plane.
We are attracted to color. It is not childish – it is something existential.
During the hiatus of stay-at-home orders, Celia Johnson was asked to make a short video on her work for Virtual GreenHill. For this week’s Curators Picks we are excited to present the documentary film, Celia Johnson: Bauhaus Influences, seen here for the first time:
Celia Johnson: Bauhaus Influences
Johnson spoke with Edie Carpenter about the process of making the video, which tells the story of the inspiration of Bauhaus artist Alma Siedhoff-Buscher on Johnson’s vibrant paintings and collages, currently on view in NC Women Abstract Painters at GreenHill.
Edie Carpenter: This project has grown over the summer, and we are so excited to see it realized. How did you go about creating such a professional video?
Celia Johnson: At the beginning of the quarantine I realized that I hadn’t been prepared and did not have any multi-media resources at the ready when everything had to shut down.
Rather than create a slide show about my work, and since I come from an advertising background and had the (Alma Siedhoff-Buscher) blocks, I decided to do something different. I did a little sketch with my phone, and it really came together once I wrote the script. After that I produced a storyboard pretty quickly. My husband suggested that I was speaking too much about Bauhaus and not enough about my own work, but I stuck to my plan and in the end, I felt it came out feeling balanced.
EC: I believe you had not created a video before?
CJ: The process of learning the software was surprisingly fluid. I had gotten a Masters in Interactive Communications & New Media at NYU years ago and was comfortable with digital platforms. Once I learned the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro I was off and running. A lot of time went into researching the imagery and making sure I correctly cited it-- there are 4-5 pages of that at the end.
EC: What would your advice be to another artist who wanted to embark on a video project like this? Would it start with a storyboard?
CJ: That is a great question. I was struggling with, do I write a narrative, or do I make a storyboard? I ended up writing the script first. I also had a timeline—which can be a summary or an outline. I think you could build a storyboard first based on an outline and then hone the script, but I ended up pretty much knowing I wanted the front end of the piece to be my research and the back end to be the results as shown in my work. The script also helped time the imagery as I was dropping it into the video editing timeline.
EC: You describe access to different disciplines for women at the Bauhaus and bring up the fact that women students were steered to “domestic” media like weaving. Alma Siedhoff-Buscher was an exception?
CJ: From what I understand and from my research you had to really show a determination and an outstanding aptitude to be admitted beyond the prescribed areas of concentration, and Alma was able to leap over that hurdle. That is not to in any way to minimize the incredible beauty of the weaving, (that many women practiced) but she kind of said: “Hey guys I want some hand tools and I want to get to work.” They let her do sculpture and design in wood, but they never would have started out with that as a line of study. She had to push for that.
EC: One thing I noticed in the video is a shot that is a transitional moment between your research on the Bauhaus and your own work, where you see pieces of the blocks by Siedhoff-Buscher on a table with your own work.
CJ: I tried to make that transition right upfront.
EC: At a point in the film you state that for you “color is existential” and not merely associated with childish play and joy. Can you elaborate on that more?
CJ: Color is an essential part of human existence and indeed the existence of many earthly creatures. It is the basis of many forms of communication and is extremely influential in psychological effects on the human system, from mood to measurable biological markers such as blood pressure and metabolism.
EC: Do you find you are drawn to certain colors in particular?
CJ: I have indeed developed a favored palette as you describe, and an orange-red is always integral, as well as a recurring citrus lemon yellow that is just this side of fluorescent. I would say that I usually rely on color to signify vitality but not at the expense of a certain harmony. I try to saturate color, particularly my vermillion red, but avoid clash and jolts.
EC: What are you working on now?
CJ: I was invited to join my husband Donald Martiny’s brand new residency at the Judy Pfaff Foundation in New York. I was not awarded this residency myself, but am a working guest. They have generously accommodated a work area for me in the large studio. Don and installation artist Belen Millan are the inaugural residents. They receive weekly crits from Michael David and Judy Pfaff so it really invaluable. I am going to be working on mono types and am going to take a Zoom monotype course through the Woodstock School of Art. It runs through the month of August. Judy has a few presses, and I brought the ink to be able to make the prints manually. I think it’s a perfect environment to be able to experiment with monotype and that in turn is going to be able to feed concepts for my paintings going forward. It’s an end unto itself to learn how to make these prints but also a deep dive into learning what I want my next paintings to be. I am having a show, if all goes well, in February in New York at the Katherine Markel Fine Arts Gallery and then a group show in June or July 2021 at the Hidell Brooks Gallery in Charlotte.
www.celiajohnson.net
NC Women Abstract Painters Virtual GreenHill Gallery