drawing from Patricia Johanson’s Sculptural Landscapes: “McMaster Monarch”, Hamilton, Ontario
“For over forty years, Patricia Johanson has patiently insisted that art can heal the earth. Her designs satisfy deep human needs for beauty, belonging and historical memory, while also answering the needs of birds, insects, fish, animals, and micro-organisms. Her art reclaims degraded ecologies and creates conditions that permit endangered species to thrive in the middle of urban centers.” — Caffyn Kelley, Preface to Art and Survival
Dating as early as 1969, Patricia Johanson’s site-specific designs which combine art, ecology, landscaping, and functional infrastructure have established her as a leading pioneer in the field of ecological art (or eco-art).
During the 1960s and 1970s she worked for Joseph Cornell and Georgia O’Keeffe and designed a series of 150 gardens for House & Garden magazine.
Her major projects have transformed municipal flood basins, sewers, water-treatment systems, flood control structures, and restored habitats into accessible landscapes that are framed by sculpture and used and enjoyed by the public.
Johanson’s work has been featured in over 150 exhibitions worldwide, and her writings have been translated into eleven languages. She is author of Creative Solutions to Environmental Problems (1992), Preserving Biocultural Diversity in Public Parks (1996), and The City as an Ecological Art Form (1998).
Johanson’s project drawings and models are preserved in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art.
Designed in 2008, a mammoth land reclamation garden in Scranton, Pa., in conjunction with Marywood University, informed the “Mary’s Seven Sorrows” drawings included in this NAP installation.
“My plan for McMaster University’s new research campus in Hamilton, Ontario (2019-2022) is based in nature, and my goal has been to design the entire project as ‘Land Art’ encompassing 45 acres—a massive swath of territory within an urban setting. ‘McMarsh,’ is an extensive mosaic of wetlands that would replace a thousand-car parking lot with ponds, marsh, and wet woodlands, all linked together and deployed to purify stormwater and provide food and habitat to birds, waterfowl, amphibians and turtles. Plants have been selected to remove specific pollutants from the water, as well as frame educational and research interests.
“The overall image for McMaster’s West Campus is the Monarch butterfly, which begins its epic 3,000-mile journey from this site in Canada every year to overwinter in Mexico.” — Patricia Johanson.
Opening Reception: Patricia Johanson’s Sculptural Landscapes: “McMaster Monarch” and “Mary’s Seven Sorrows”
Date: Friday, January 13, 2023, 6-9pm
Gallery Talk: 7:30pm with artist
Location: 173 W Main St, Kutztown, PA 19530
For more information call: 610-683-6440
The exhibition runs Friday – Sundays, 10am -1pm through April 16, 2023