Pinney Studio Artist/Art+Wellness with Madison Branch Libraries
September–December 2022
What have you learned through art? How does art heal you?
Angela invited Madison adults and seniors to come explore new art mediums with her. She sees the tools of creating as a way to process ideas, she hosted weekly open studio sessions and workshops for the community throughout her time in residence. These opportunities focused on different media/processes each month with an emphasis on storytelling through thinking outside the box. Open studio themes include: creating textures on paper, bookmaking, box making, small structures and ornaments.
As part of the Live Well at your Library series Angela also visited a variety of the local branch libraries and led participants through the creation of two day workshops making accordion style Memory Books. In preparation of making the books participants did free writing and mind-mapping to hone in on their memory book ideas.
Angela also put together 175 gratitude journal kits that were available at 8 local libraries. Click on the link and learn how to make your own journal!
Peninsula School of Art—2022
During my six week residency at Peninsula School of Art I visited Peninsula State Park every day for long hikes, to take photographs, be inspired and breathe in the fresh air, to slow down and be intentional. It was an amazing experience to view the daily changes in the park.
North High School Virtual Residency-Sheboygan High School—2021/2022
This body of work was inspired by my interest in nature, balance and telling stories through individual and collective memories through the idea of legacy. Through my virtual Artist in Residency here at North High School, I have been working with Mr. Stauber-Soik’s Senior, Honors Humanities Class since October of 2021. From class discussions about the birth of civilization, to discussions from Gilgamesh to Opedius Rex and modern day communities the conversation of legacy has been ongoing.
What do we leave behind, both intentionally and unintentionally as communities and individuals?
What do we value?
How do we want to be remembered?
I have created a series of Artist books and small installation environments with these questions in mind. As we travel through our lives, what themes show up as recurrence?
What do you look to as your lifeboat? Does it change over time?
What does “internal” look like to you?
How do you weave a meaningful life together?
Through my personal lens, I am exploring literal and figurative connections we have to those who came before us, the natural world and each other.
I worked with Angela for more than six months of the 2021-22 school year. As an artist with a wide breadth of work and humanist interests, she was a natural fit and another valuable voice for my Honors Humanities class at North High School. Our class is made up of some of the best seniors in the graduating crop. Angela augmented our study of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Oedipus Rex, the modern masterpiece Feed by MT Anderson by paralleling it with her Legacy Boxes. Students produced visual arts in a traditional book-and-paper class. The result was some rich connections between the literature and the students' lives that no doubt drove critical thinking forward. Furthermore, the students had a clear example of how a career in art is possible and how an artist's voice adds to the entire community. I highly recommend any 6-12 educator that could find time and and space for Angela to join his/her classroom.
—Chad Stauber Soik, High School Teacher at North High School, Sheboygan, WI
The Sheboygan North High Artist-in-Residency Program is supported by a grant from the Kohler Foundation, Inc.
Residency at Zinn Preserve—2020/2021
There are 17 artists participating in a year-long residency program called ARTservancy, a collaboration between Gallery 224 in Port Washington and the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust, River Revitalization Foundation, Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Tall Pines Conservancy, and the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory. The mission of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and conservationists. Each artist (or team) has selected a preserve to spend time in and to engage with.
Angela and her husband Justin Bitner are both resident artist's at Zinn preserve this year.
Artist Statement by Angela Johnson at Zinn Preserve
As a photographer and installation artist, one of my favorite pastimes is exploring nature—parks, paths, habitats, state parks and preserves in Wisconsin. I am intrigued with both micro and macro environments, the details and subtleties that can be observed when we focus in and really look and spend time in nature. This year-long residency is an added bonus—my husband, Justin Bitner (also an artist and my collaborator) and I were both placed at Zinn. We live in Madison, and so we turn our visits to Zinn into exciting road trips, building the day around our trips there.
I approach my work at Zinn Preserve with curiosity and a sense of exploration, using both a macro lens and a wide-angle lens, capturing tiny details as well as vast landscapes. In addition, I am also using a medium format Holga toy film camera in order to get a unique view and perspective. I am threading the needle through the continued exploration in the photographs I create. After printing the images on watercolor paper or Bristol board I play with them in my studio, adding encaustic wax and watercolor to some images, and sewing on top of others. My final presentation at Gallery 224 next year will draw from a variety of mixed media.
Zinn Preserve Coloring Book
A nature based coloring book that focuses on the transition of seasons during Angela’s year long Artist Residency at Zinn Preserve in southwest Wisconsin.
Seasonal Nature Photography Project at Marquette Elementary—2009/2010
Angela worked with all three of the grade levels at Marquette Elementary during different seasons of the year. She met with each class several times, giving tips on how to frame up an image, and ways to look at nature through different vantage points and angles. Students used disposable cameras to observe more and to slow down and really look at what they are taking images of. This project extended beyond photography and into writing projects in the classroom and other related art projects in the art room. She worked with third grade in the fall, fourth grade in the winter and fifth grade in the spring.
Curriculum was created working closely with the grade level teachers and their art teacher.
Students selected a few images of theirs to be part of the 3 large, 3’x3’framed photo collages.
Paul Douglas (Douglas Framing) donated the framing. The rest of their images were incorporated into writings, poems and made into cards throughout the year. The card packs students made were sold as a fundraiser for the school.
At the end of the school year an open house was held, where the three large photo collages were unveiled as well as writings, small collage other works and collaborations were on view.
This project was funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with additional funds from the school PTA.