User:Sculptorgreg

Artist Gregory Johnson was born on January 30th, 1955, in Chicago Illinois. His early training includes the Art Institute of Chicago and tutoring by several world-class artists. An art scholarship sent him to Bowling Green State University  in Ohio in 1973. Later, after winning the Elizabeth Stein Award of Art Excellence Scholarship, he traveled to Illinois State University, where he studied sculpture, painting, and art history for the following six years. He traveled through Europe and the Mediterranean, touring major Art museums for the entire summer through an International Studies Program. After graduating from ISU with a Masters of Science in Art, he began his chosen career as an artist. His work has sold well in the gallery environment, and resulted in numerous awards, commissions, reviews and one-man exhibitions.

In 1981 he moved to the Southeast to begin his career anew. The region offered many new challenges and sites to paint. His first art exhibitions in Atlanta were received very well, resulting in the establishment of the artist’s first studio in north Georgia. He has created public art works in Cumming-Forsyth County, Blairesville-Union County, Blue Ridge-Fannin County, Dahlonegha-Lumpkin County, Athens Classic Center, Fayetteville, Thomaston, Barnesville, State of Georgia Botanical Gardens, and Gainesville. Other works are located in numerous Museums, and Corporate and Private Collections throughout the United States, Europe, Costa Rica, and the Middle East.

Currently, the artist resides in Forsyth County, Georgia with his wife Jane and family where he professionally pursues his career of making art.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Whether a memorial sculpture, historic recreation, or commemorative figurative work, I  cull the composition  that will capture the "presence" of the figure in the “moment”, that will dovetail with the “mission”. These feelings must blend seamlessly together.

A somewhat more thoughtful onlooker might delve a few layers down, into other implications. The story lies in the gestures these figures make and content depicted. My goal is not a photographic rendering, but rather an active, fluid sculpture, which presents the moment, allowing the art to tell its own story as it might.

References- website- www.gregoryjohnson.biz, Best of American Sculpture, Kennedy Publishing 2008, 2009, Best of American Art, Alcove Books, 2007, 2008, View Magazine, Fall 2003, In depth article