Born in Dumfries, Scotland, Alison Johnston studied at Edinburgh College of Art under Elizabeth Blackadder, Sir Robin Philipson and Harry More Gordon. Following graduation, her career flourished in illustration and animation for Oscar-nominated “Fireman Sam” and “Aardman Animations”. Johnston now draws her inspiration from her highland home. Her paintings, oil on canvas, are normally produced in Johnston’s studio but the main work takes place in the landscape.
Johnston has exhibited in Edinburgh, Perth, Moray, Bristol and Glastonbury. Her commissions include Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Self-taught or art school?
Graduated with BA(Hons) Edinburgh College of Art.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
I would like to own Kathe Kollwitz ‘’ Mothers(Mutter)’’ 1919 lithograph. A very powerful image of a self-portrait of a mother with the linked bodies and enfolding arms forming strong lines of composition. The children she embraces are memories of her children when they were young. Her potent use of line in black and white holds simplicity and depth that I would love to replicate in my own work.
How would you describe your style?
My style is an expressive realism. The use of colour and application of paint expresses my intuitive response and my connection to the subject in a way that may not imitate realism in a photographic way but relays the truth I am feeling.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
By revisiting themes and places I let the familiar and the fresh observations infuse with memories and subconscious thoughts. I can then begin to paint from both internal and external responses. I find I have to feel a deep connection in order to paint.
Is narrative important within your work?
My paintings open the door to exposing a personal reality, a phenomenology that only the viewer’s eye can conjure, not physically seen by any other, working as a signifier of the truth of our subconscious minds and a nurturing feeling of timelessness. The material image will be fused with the viewer’s mind and memories and tell a personal narrative.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
Grayson Perry is intrigued by the visual environment people build around themselves, and how their possessions reflect where they want to sit in society. My own work is an awareness of the opposite, where we sit within the natural environment. We are both concerned with the details that make that place special for us. I appreciate the way he communicates through many artistic paths and I can relate to this. I may have an idea best expressed with paint, or sometimes I need to channel it through fine line, or linocut, or felt and embroidery, tiny sculptures – a host of combinations of media. All methods are a means to express my vision.
Victoria Crowe is a favourite, working with repeated motifs, and the idea that we are small beings among great immovable forces and she paints the ephemeral with objects arranged and painted in a way that the viewer can see beyond the immediate physical impact.
What or who inspires your art?
I am inspired by places and people I have come to know, and I can observe them with a depth of understanding. The familiar observations cultivated through the art of drawing and painting lead me to a moment when I am completely aware and I can meet that moment with intensity. It is a particularly informed view that inspires me to develop a visual language that will depict my response to my surroundings.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is in the small village of Duffus in the Highlands. I look out onto lovely farmland yet I am a stone’s throw from amazing beaches and caves.
Do you have any studio rituals?
Tallulah the cat is always anxious to get into the studio and settled onto her favourite cushion for the day. I follow her in with my piping hot cup of tea and fiddle around with little experiments in my sketchbook to get me focused then the day truly begins.
What are you working on currently?
Currently working on a linocut series of the herring lassies, and the local fishing villages. Envisaging the ghosts of the past among the present-day surroundings and responding to my surroundings. I am also working on a series of paintings of the coastline, the overlapping of rocks and weather and time, to be exhibited in my open studio in October.
Where can we buy your art?
From my studio Smiddy Studio, Hopeman Road, Duffus, Elgin, Moray IV30 5RR
or contact me through my website or Instagram.
Instagram @alisonjohnstonartwork
