IskraFineArt

Welcome to Iskra Fine Art

 Most of the artwork in this site is available for exhibition or purchase, either as originals or in some cases as archival digital reproductions. Unless otherwise noted all artwork is composed of my own original photography, drawing, painting and printmaking. I am currently focused on transfer prints, which are featured in the albums for The Happiness Project, and The Street:Wayfinding Continued. If you would like to know more about transfer prints please see the page titled What Is A Transfer Print? to the right. Please call or email me for details on individual pieces or to inquire about purchase. Phone: 206.367.2643 Email: Iskra At iskradesign.com. All images © Iskra Johnson and may be reproduced only with the permission of the artist.

Is Bremerton The New Brooklyn? Many Reasons to Visit The CVG Show 2012

Ok, ok, I know Burien has been fighting for this title, (and in fact it may not even be relevant, since I am told by some that China, the entire nation, is the new Williamsburg, and who cares about Brooklyn anyway, aren't we over the USA??), but I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Bremerton has pretty much everything you need in a burgeoning arts community, and much to make its preening big sister to the east jealous.

This is a town where you can still find an affordable home, median price $199K. It's a place where nature rules, and with considerable drama: In 2010 two bald eagles fighting over a fish knocked out power on Pleasant Avenue, electrocuting one bird in the process. It's a place where you can spend the night at an upscale bed and breakfast or opt for a romantic and educational sleepover on an actual Navy destroyer from the Vietnam War. You can also see bits of submarines embedded in one of the fabulous waterfront parks, which features fountains that, through a feat of sculptural alchemy, become salmon swimming upstream. You can join the United States Marines and defend our nation in that honorable fashion, or get yourself a studio and make a whole lotta art and defend your aesthetic at the CVG  Show, a rare state-wide juried competition with serious prize money at stake, hosted by Bremerton's Collective Visions Gallery. 

Yes, this is not just a travelogue, but an invitation to visit the CVG Show, which opens January 29th, and which I am honored to be part of. Friends Paula Gill, Jennifer Carrasco and Laura Brodax will also be represented, with pieces that are not to be missed. Kathleen Moles, curator at the LaConner Museum of Northwest Art selected 137 works from nearly 800 submitted. There will be many community events in conjunction with the exhibit. Details can be found at Collective Visions Gallery.

Glen Davis, photographer, graciously granted permission to use his portraits of the Bremerton waterfront. It truly is a marvel, and well worth the trip, even if you don't make it to the show.

© Glen Davis, Legendary Portraits of Manette

New Iskra Fine Art Facebook Page

I have just created a new public Facebook Page for Iskra Fine Art. I will continue posting show openings and news here, but the Facebook Page is a great way to get notices without going to a google reader or other interface. To get updates please click on the link above and click the "Like" button at the top. 

Composition en Route to Georgetown

God I love the backs of trucks. Late afternoon winter light, a miracle around here, where foggy smudgy is the rule. A long drive to get supplies at Grainger, where all the men wear overalls and the women tuck their hair under hardhats and don't smile much. I fell inlove with this truck on Fourth Avenue South. My phone went low res, but after some finessing I think the compositional magic is clear. Renaissance light, theme and variation, and subject matter with a purpose: Workin, workin, get outta my way.

 

Wayfinding: The Walking Man Goes Shopping at Night

Still under the influence of the recent piece at NeuroTribes (how I wish I had thought of that name!)  on the evolution of the first icons for personal computing. I am temporarily abandoning leaves and the druid-watch of autumn melancholies for pure urban you-r-here-nowness. When I am no longer in love with the Walking Man, when the affair is over, you will be the first to know. Meanwhile, here we are, being told what to do and when to do it, in this case: Stop, LookBothWays, go Forward, protected in the night, -- to buy dinner. 

© Iskra Johnson

This image was captured with a cellphone, my intimate conspirator. No traffic tickets were incurred in the making, although it was close. I am going to enlarge this about a 20 or 30 times and print it and see what happens, to see if the intimate space can scale up and what that feels like. I do so love the 2 by 3 inch jewels of the cellphone. Perhaps we will return to the age of stereoscopes, and entire museum exhibits will be set up to witness modern life in the Victorian mode.

Icons Under the Influence: New Digital Etching

Today, under the influence of the feature from Neurotribes on the sketchbooks of Susan Kare  this new street print came together. I have been madly in love with the bicycle icon for years, more so as the original ones have been blasted and worn by the treads of time and become so exquisitely beat up. It is thrilling to look at Susan's sketches and see the embryonic beginnings of the icon-life we take for granted today. When I look at the grid of the street and how it interacts with paint I can see the pixel principle, but thrown for an anarchist loop. I have driven or walked across this particular bicycle icon hundreds of times, and I think I can take credit for just a small fraction of its wabi sabi. This is a collage of etched paper, powdered pigment and photography printed as a transfer print on Arches 88.

 

©Iskra Johnson

To see my portfolio in icon and lettering design visit Iskra Design. My blog about letterforms, icons and alphabetic ephemera is Alphabet Roadtrip, which is where I also post my most recent book cover and design work.

The Reeds: Surface Tension

Every time I circle the Lake I stop and look at the reeds. Which ones have been broken by the heron since yesterday? Which one  snapped in the wind and now crosses its neighbor? The conversation changes slowly, infinitely, accompanied by wind and rain and the arc of the winter sun.

© Iskra Johnson

This is the plate before printing. It will be a mixed media transfer print, 16 by 22 inches.