The free one-hour lecture will be held in the Catapult Classroom.
Johnson is this years guest juror for Cape Girardeaus Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition on Broadway and recently exhibited his sculpture, titled Flint Hills Dreamer, in Cape Girardeaus 2015-2016 sculpture exhibition.
The artistic career of Johnson spans more than 40 years. As a sculptor/artist, he has participated in more than 90 regional and national juried and invitational exhibitions. He has completed numerous large-scale public sculptures in aluminum and cor-ten steel, ranging in size from 12 to 25 feet in height which are on permanent and temporary exhibit in Kansas, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana, Missouri and Iowa. Johnson has received six grants from state and local institutions to develop glassblowing and bronze casting facilities and was selected as one of five sculptors to participate in a research project at the University of Costa Rica.
In addition, he served as an artist-in-residence at Anderson College in Anderson, Indiana, where he designed and fabricated a 17-foot, 2,000-pound large-scale public sculpture. He was selected as guest instructor at the Texas Tech University summer program in Junction, Texas, and the Penland School of Arts and Crafts in Penland, North Carolina. A 1963 graduate of Emporia State University with a Bachelor of Science in art, he went on to receive his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Kansas in 1970. He spent nearly a decade teaching at the University of Kansas and Arkansas State University before making his way to Eastern Illinois University where he served as professor and chairperson of the Art Department and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.
As a sculptor, I have always been concerned with creating works of art that cause the viewer to pause and reflect upon their surroundings, and in doing so become more aware of the environment that they are passing through, he said. In addition, each work of art that I have designed and fabricated is a reflection of past experiences that have shaped my life and the interest that I have in ancient cultures, especially the Mayan and Inca that used art as a means of communicating their lifestyles and cultures. Equally important has been my use of the arch as a means of transforming the viewer from a place and time of activity to one of calm and reflection.
For more information on Johnson, visit http://jameskjohnson.com/.
Catapult Creative House hours are Tuesday through Saturday 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. All gallery exhibitions, events and talks are free and open to the public. For more information or to register for the workshop, contact Leah Powers at lepowers@semo.edu or (573) 290-5372.