Adam Johnson
BA Honours Contemporary Applied Arts 2:1
Designer & Maker of Ceramics and Glass
Adamjohnson@lionsplace.co.uk
www.earthandglass@lionsplace.co.uk
+44 (0)1323 895256
+44 (0)7970968508
Mail:
7 Lions Place
Seaford
East Sussex
BN25 1AY
Shows and Exhibitions Pending|
I have just finished a show at the iO gallery in sydney street in brighton that i have really enjoyed. It was the call to arms for me as a selling craftsman as is the first show that i have put on completly independently since i was run over. The starting block for me to evolve from. Even as i write i have a thousand ideas running through my mind and a crammed sketch book by my side. Without the fresh memory of a recent show and the promise of a future one It can be difficuly to be analytical enough with a range , or to take a step back. Looking back on what has been successfull and what i enjoyed the most , i now have an army of ideas to take into the future.
Having recently bought a home in Brighton I am in the process of becoming a part of the Brighton Festival open houses. This will give me the oppertunity to show the entirety of my work all at one time, and in one place, which I find very exciting and inspiring when im working. Its really making me stretch myself and think outside my work, pushing each piece in new and exiting directions .
Aspirations |
I want allot from my creative life. I would love to have my own open studio that sustains itself and allows me to give back into the community aswell. I cant imagine ever stopping making either so i will always need some personal outlets too, so that i can continue to show, learn and develop. I ultimately plan to become a university lecturer but plan to do so when i have the skills and experience that the students really deserve. Untill then i want to imerse myself in anything and everything creative and to get all the experience i can. I regulally look for teaching positions calling for applicants and have been saving with the intention to be able to afford me time off to become a teaching assistant.
Recent Shows and Exhibitions|
Currently Sydney Streets "iO gallery" here in Brighton display and sell my Ceramic work. Nestled in one of the trendyest lanes, right in the middle of Sydney Street - my lighting and sculptural vessels adorn the window space looking out into the bustling street.
April 1st - April 15th . Further Presenting my Ceramic reef to the public of Brightons Sydney Street, The iO Gallery displayerd thirty plus pieces of work across their window spaces. Creating a coral reef with a twist for brighton to enjoy. A well recieved exhibition that has sounded the starter gun for my return to sales after the recent stint in the wheelchair (of which i talk often.)
March 2009. Trafalgars, of Trafalgar street Brighton have now begun a constant exhibition of POP art. It will be an ever changing exhibition for sale off the wall. Pop in when you next go bye.
March 2009. Branded, a new boutique retail experience on St James street brighton has opened . Branded being the identity and logo that i designed for the clothing label, has now become the name and identity of the entire shop. The shop itself will sell high end clothing. Its walls will be adorned with my bespoke paintings inc Pop art and there are several veins of accessory that i am currently working on with the owner. Be sure to browse through the greeting cards next time you drop in.
My paintings have always been popular with businesses and landlords, I regulally recieve orders for multiple pieces to perminantly stock a venue. This has been a paticulally good arrangement at Bar Via in Eastbourne town center where I constantly display and sell upwards of twenty paintings- selling them straight from the wall. I have a great relationship with the bar because of my paintings which has led me into their promotions. I now do all the promotional work, posters and flyers, and have recently finished redesigning their food and cocktail menu's.
This really opened me up to graphic design and has led to several commisions for promootional work and design, including a Music promotions Group and LOGO design for a new brand of underwear.
West Pier Market - on the beach | Working in partnership with Claudia Du Bain we were able to display a daily stall that enabled us to sell more of our commercial works directly to the passing public on the beach with the iconic west pier as a backdrop.
ShIp Street gallery, The old post office Brighton 02/2007 - closing of gallery 10/2007 | Here i held a stand space for roughly a year displaying and selling my work in Brighton. Selling amongst some of brightons finest artists and craftsmen I took a space at the rear of the building that I set up like a shop. As I was at the space every day i would create new pieces through out the day and so it very much had the feel of a working gallery. While it was only small it has given me some great experience in selling and displaying my work, I learned alot while i was there and would love to do it again some day.
Christmas fair 2006| Held in the lighthouse exhibition centre, Wolverhampton.
Christmas fair 2006| Brighton Lanes, Brighton.
N.A.M.E 2006 | Stone Leigh park, Coventry | 08/2006
A seller’s fair for contemporary crafts people exhibiting a diverse range of high quality and original work. To soon be followed in 2007 in Cardiff this was an excellent venue for selling work and interacting with the creative community. While completely selling out of stock at this show I took on many commissions and have now placed my work in many galleries nationwide.
New Beginning | Bilston Craft Gallery | 06/2006
A joint exhibition whereby Melanie Lewis, an emerging brick carver, and I worked side by side in displaying our very different works. Producing a real spectrum of the potential in the materials we use for any beginning craftsperson to be inspired by. On display were my glass burst and my swarming pod forms in a display named rock pooling. This was our first self motivated exhibition, autonomous of the University, showing the country that we mean business.
Rufford Ceramic Fair | Rufford | 06/2006
Organised as a student body, in which I sat as a course Representative. We exhibited in the famed Rufford ceramic fair alongside many of the country’s leading craftspeople. As representatives of the University's course we displayed and sold many of our works. For me this was the first time I achieved confirmation that this would be a sustainable career choice, selling out of stock for the first time and making many gallery connections through networking.
BA Honours Degree Show | School of Art and Design Wolverhampton University.
To finish our Degree we worked together with the University in putting on an exhibition extravaganza, with every department involved we produced a showcase of work from many disciplines. In displaying my own work I produced a seascape based installation of ceramic and glass looking at the interaction and dispersal of marine life forms. Supported by local business, the Mayor, and the Dean, this is a yearly event and definitely one to be proud of. I have left the University with a great sense of loyalty and appreciation and hope to one day return and give something back to such a useful creative development tool.
International glass Biennale | 2004
I produced and showed a 16 foot chandelier based on the swarming of insects in the entrance to the internationally acclaimed show as part of their sculpture trail. This is a show every other year for the cream of international glass craftspeople to come and exhibit their talents.
Festival of Fire | 2004
For a two week period I worked under Carl Nordbruch in the festival of fire celebrations. Learning from him I became an enthusiastic and confident glass blower. Helping to produce a 20 foot high sculpture on the evolution of a Venetian glass vessel, this was later installed outside the Merryhill centre.
BTEC Foundation Diploma | 2003
Upon leaving school I took this course to broaden my skill base and abilities in preparation for university so I could start the course in the right frame of mind and ready to give it my all.
Employment |
I have worked a number of jobs since I was thirteen, happy to do menial labour as long as I could say that I was supporting myself. From the age of eighteen I have worked in bars to support my study, and work in Optitians today to support my creative career. Working in the bar environment always pushed my confidence and people skills, benefiting my selling, marketing and networking skills for my craft. In any job I have held I have quickly worked my way up the ladder as enjoy the responsibility of running a team and being a valuable part of the outlet infrastructure.
Studio |
Currently I work from home with my main living space and two attics which i have converted into my studio s, with two kilns a lamp torch and design desk. Soon to also house a small dark room and Micromotor etching desk. My kiln sits nestled in the kitchen which requires a living area that will morph from home to studio at a moments notice, a characteristic of living in brighton that i surprisingly enjoy.
References |
Gwen Heeney Amy Finney
22 High Street 32 Eleton Lane
Welshpool Brewood
Powys Staffordshire
SY21 7JP ST19 9DY
PRESS
Adam Johnson BA (Hons) - Designer and Maker In Ceramics
www.adamjohnson.lionsplace.co.uk
PRESS RELEASE
Adam Johnson to make a return to showing work
For the first time since being run over having both legs broken by a speeding car and loosing significant memory, Adam Johnson returns and will begin showing his ceramics around the south once more.
Adam works from his flat in Brighton where he has converted two attics into makeshift studios, with a kiln sat to one side of his kitchen he has a truly eclectic living space, testament to the creative soul he is. He now treads the rafters creating work in ceramics, glass and more recently graphic design, even moving into portrait painting. He an innovative young man branching out all the time as well as having a full time job in an opticians, In today’s adverse financial climate he will do anything in order to pay the mortgage and stay doing what he loves. These are all areas that he studied at university, some of which he found he was better suited to when reliant on his wheelchair.
Finding himself wheelchair bound for 5 months Adam was forced to evolve his ceramic process, shrinking down his creations and focusing on detail. Refining the finely finished ornate spiky crunkles that shout look at me and touch me, with painstaking hand built detailing that forms textures which scream for attention. Forms that also have fragility in their self supporting appearances, that’s surprisingly not transferred into the durability of these little forms. Made by hand and in the hand they are very tactile and ask just to be treated like flowers of the ocean that inspired their creation, honor the petals/prongs and the work will bloom for generations.
Whether aided by the therapeutic nature of hand building with clay, or by the concoction of memory affecting medicines Adam was on, He created hundreds of pieces. Unable to sleep sometimes he would work through the night on seemingly impossible forms, fixated on exacting detail and structural integrity. He has perfected a method of repeatedly twisting the clay to strengthen the molecular bonds. Making the structures hold strong through the green process, through firing and glazing, bringing the work safely into their long lives on display in homes around the country. Sometimes he would forget that he had made several pieces after having them stored away upstairs by a relative, so he would set to work on several more , shocked to later discover that he had twice the amount he thought he would and that each would evolve getting better that the one before. He lives craft so has never stopped making, amassing crate after crate of coral inspired sculpture. So that now perched atop a hill in Brighton you can find a Ceramic Reef nestled comfortably and surreally in a Victorian attic.
Over the months Adam diversified and evolved his processes and collections gradually embracing larger forms as he healed. Taking skills that he had developed and applying them to larger forms he has come out of his ordeal with a huge range of textured forms including playful hand held display items, medium sized candle lit work, wall mountable sculpture (small, large and huge) and standing sculptural work embracing hand building with plug in lights.
Perforating the skins of the clay shells he pinches has challenged and fascinated Adam , but it is important for him that whether its a work for indoors or out, it should have a mystique, a hidden function or life born from a clever use of the material in which it is made. Each prong or spike is rolled by hand and then worked onto the hand pinched shell, a hollow form that at exactly the right time in the drying process can be perforated. Perforations that will later allow light to penetrate the form at night and by day encourage a curiosity to the manufacturer of these burrow like holes, is there a colony at work in this strange form? Could something here be alive?
Across his work there is a playful quality to bring out the child in all of us. To ask us to touch the work and to really experience each piece fully. So that hopefully Adam has bought the experiences he had while submerged on the ocean floor to the viewer, whether it be in a 2nd floor gallery in Manchester or at a summer fair sat on a plinth in a garden in Kent.
Before the accident in 2007, Adam participated in shows up and down the country with sell out shows at the Islington Business Centre and at N.A.M.E. in Coventry.
“Adam Johnson is a young man dedicated to his work - having dived the Great Barrier Reef in 2004 he became consumed by the aesthetic and character of coral which is clear in each piece he creates. Be it one of his signature glowing perforated porcelain lights, polyp-inspired bowls or one of the delicately made character filled wall-mountable sculptures. A maritime ceramic Junko Mori n colour his work is fresh, inviting and always a welcome point of interest.”
Kathy peak
Because he works so prolifically, using every spare hour that he can, his collection of work is diverse in design and varied in size, some will have small spikes and some have long slender prongs. Every piece has its own personality, every form demanding a different reaction of the viewer. Be it one of a tactile nature thriving from touch, or an air of restraint asking that you only behold the intricacy of the delicate form.
Adam has now found that he has built up a large store of work of all sizes and prices that he once again wants to present publically. He is confident from his latest show that his work will once again be well received, and that people will enjoy and attach to the works of passion and energy that they are.
Adam is busy planning an exciting few months ahead. He is showing in local galleries* and has begun the process of application to a number of shows and exhibitions - including plans to have an Open House in the Brighton Festival and to once again have a staffed stand at Brighton market.
While wheelchair bound Adam briefly tried to hold a summer market stall on Brighton seafront’s Craft Market but found the stairs a particular challenge. Now as he learns to run he hopes that he will also be able to run a successful place in the Crafts Market once again, allowing his hopefully long career in crafts to begin once more, step by step and stride by stride.
* iO gallery, Sidney Street Brighton. & Kingsley Village, Truro.
BRANDED Kemp town, Brighton For which Adam also deigned the logo and Corporate Identity.
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....................................................................................................................................." My work is all about having fun. if it isnt fun is it somthing worth doing? Having fun in life is something too few people do, it is a massive concern of mine within our society and so is the first and formost concern in my work. I suppose its good then that i still have to find something that I cannot make fun.
When it comes down to it I think that a piece should be created for you to enjoy, a toy for the inner child we all have. This doesn't mean a juvenile creation, I think that you should be allowed to push your boundries and collect objects that bring the beauty of the world into concious view. Objects that have a purpose, a concept that will bring a new dimension to a space. A conversation or an idea. Objects for you to ultmately enjoy and that will enhance your enjoyment of the space you command.
Currently my work looks largely at coral reefs and the experiences I have had when swimming and diving on them. Each one magical and individual has shown me a window into the soul of the world that I try to reference in my work. It's the community, security, the movenment and the intelligent secrecy you feel when on the reef that is overwhelming, its as if you have just discovered an age old lost city where the mysteries behind life and its beauty will be explained. I try to put these characteristics into my work, to let the form and function pose questions that cannot be easly answered while still having an object of beauty to feed the grey matter.
To be bought in groups my ceramic pods look at community, how entities interact and rely on each other symbiotically for strength and propergation. The textures and surface pattern give them a strong sence of identity. Mixed together they address the infinate and amazing diversity in the reef.
Created as land art there are a large range of professional photographic prints`available in their natural environment, or the pieces can be bought in any arrangment for an interior installation of your very own.
The glass bursts directly reference the imposing almost agressive dominance of the reef and how protective it seems, juxtaposed with the crushing reality of its fragility and delicate state. The bursts capture the pulse of life and the fresh energy of the reef refracting and playing with the light to make works that bring a contemporary fresh energised look to any space. Suitable for indoor/outdoor installation these pieces make a grand statment in any natural surround.