Rebecca Johnson
Rebecca Johnson grew up in an art centric family in rural Hopewell, New Jersey. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art and her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She studied bronze casting at the Johnson Atelier in New Jersey and stone carving in quarries in Vermont. Grants, fellowships, shows in galleries and museums, commissions, critical acclaim and teaching positions at Dartmouth and Kenyon Colleges distinguished her career.
A fulcrum of change occurred when The British American Arts Council awarded her a three-month fellowship to work in Northwest Wales. In this land of stonewalls, craggy mountains, wild coast and rich folkloric history Rebecca’s ideas gestated. Time and solitude created space for her to thoroughly see and imbibe the light, color and form of the land. Her exterior and interior visions integrated and enhanced each other. Rebecca discovered a new degree of courage and conviction to follow her work to its true ultimate power, rural nature and a poetic vision.
Rebecca now lives and works in Northern California, a place of raw elemental forces. Inside a large renovated barn she creates paintings. The doors of the studio open to a hillside meadow filled with her stone sculpture. The calm beauty of this rural place resonates from her work.
-
Celadon, 2026 -
Calla Lily
-
Dove
-
Landscape
-
Riparian Wheel
-
River Styx
-
Wish
EDUCATION
1994 MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1980 BFA, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA
1980 Johnson Atelier of Sculpture, Princeton, NJ
AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, RESIDENCIES
2016 Peaked Hill Trust Arts and Science Residency Program, Dune Shack, Cape Cod National Seashore, Provincetown, Massachusetts
2016 Winesong Artist of the Year, Hospital Foundation, Fort Bragg, CA
1996 Grand Prize, Delaware Art Museum Biennial Wilmington, DE
1992 Residency Fellowship Chester Springs Studio, Chester Springs, PA
1991 Residency Fellowship British American Arts Council, Parc Gynllifon, Caenarfon, Wales, UK.
1990 Neighborhood Arts Grant, Office of Arts and Culture, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Neighborhood Arts Grant, Office of Arts and Culture, Philadelphia, PA
1988 Residency Fellowship Vermont Studio Colony, Johnson, VT
1985 Fellowship for Sculpture, Pennsylvania Council of the Arts
1983 Fellowship for Sculpture, Pennsylvania Council of the Arts
ONE PERSON SHOWS
2017 Light as Blue, Mendocino Art Center, 45200 Little Lake St, Mendocino, CA
2015 Window project, PDX Gallery, 925 Flanders Street, Portland, OR
2014 Something, Farm Gallery and Project room, Wellfleet, MA
2008 Field of Vision - Northern California Barns, Spindrift Gallery, Gualala, CA
2012 Field of Vision - Northern California Barns, Spindrift Gallery, Gualala, CA
2006 Prayer for Rivers, Morris Graves Museum of Art, Eureka, CA
2005 Moving Light, 50 Fremont Street, San Francisco, CA | Curator: William Torphy Fine Arts
1997 Matter of Being, Olin Art Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
1997 Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1995 Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1989 Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1994 DNA Gallery, Provincetown, MA
1988 Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York, NY
1986 Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, New York, NY
1986 University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
1984 Challenge Exhibition, The Fleisher Art Memorial
1984 The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1983 Nexus Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1982 culpture Installation, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
SELECTED JURIED AND GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012 The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World, Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2005 Long View Museum of Art, Longview, TX
2005 Art Center of Northern New Jersey, New Milford, NJ
2005 Juried Show Juror: Jordan Cantor, Assistant Curator Dept. of Drawings, Museum of Modern Art, New York
2005 Varieties of Form, Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA
2001 Elemental Interpretations, Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah, CA
1998 Two Dimension Three Dimension, Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA
1996 Biennial, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE | Best in show prize
1996 Nature Morte: Contemporary Still Life, Museum of American Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1996 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1995 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1994 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1994 Sharadin Art Gallery, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA
1994 In and Out of the Landscape: Site Specific Outdoor Sculpture, Penn State Berks County, Reading, PA
1993 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Philadelphia Art Now: Artists Choose Artists, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Contemporary Philadelphia Artists, Philadelphia Museum of Art
1989 Survey of Gallery Artists, Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1987 Art Quest '87, the Art Institute of Boston, California State University, Los Angeles
1987 Drawings by Sculptors, Dolan Maxwell Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1987 Works on Paper, Beaver College, Glenside, PA
1984 Rebecca Johnson Sculptures, Susan Rothenberg Prints,
Paul Cava Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2018 Stone Sculpture Bench for the Wild Gardens an outdoor educational environment. Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah, CA
2007 Anderson Valley Elementary School, mosaic entrance, Boonville, CA
2004 Boonville People's Park, Ferrocement mosaic arch park entrance, Boonville, CA
2000 The Leeway Foundation, design for the Leeway Laurel Award
Philadelphia, PA
1997 Abington Art Center Sculpture Garden, outdoor sculpture
Jenkintown, PA
1995 Eliot Pearson Children’s School, stone ballards: park entrance
Tufts University, Boston, MA
1996 Material Culture, murals and showroom design,
Philadelphia, PA
1996 ABC Home Furnishing, showroom murals, New York
BIBLIOGRAPHY
New York Magazine, Travel, 'Savor the New Coastal Charm of Mendocino County', Blaine Bachelor, September 7, 2016, http://nymag.com/travel/
Forbes, “5 Reasons to visit Anderson Valley Now”, Kim Westerman, April 5, 2016, http://nymag.com/travel/
Willamette Week, Portland OR, March 25 2015, Review by Richard, Speer, file:///Users/
Art Forum, October 1995, Review by Eileen Neff
Art in America, October 1992, Review by Miriam Siedel
Philadelphia City Paper, March 6, 1992
"Have Chainsaw Will Travel” by Robin Rice
The Philadelphia Inquire, February 27, 1992
"In works made in Wales, artist uses stone to make her point"
By Ed Sozanski
New Art Examiner, summer 1989
Review by Anne Shuster Hunter
The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 31, 1985
"The abstract isn’t old hat” by Ed Sozanski
The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 5, 1984
"Playful and Primordial: two halves of a show,
Rebecca Johnson and Susan Rothenberg” by Ed Sozanski
PROFESSIONAL
Grace Hudson Museum, Ukiah, CA 1999 – 2001, Art Prepator, Assistant Curator
Kenyon College, Gambier, OH 1997, Assistant Professor Sculpture
Mainline Art Center, Haverford, PA 1994 – 1995, Instructor Painting
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 1994, Assistant Professor Sculpture
Chester Springs Studio, Chester Springs, PA 1993-1995, Instructor Painting and Drawing
West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, WV 1993, Visiting Artist, sculpture installation
Camden County College, Camden, NJ 1990 Instructor Art History
Bucks County College, Newtown, PA
1989 -1990 Instructor 2-D & 3-D Design