Hello and I’m delighted to be back at my alma mater with you and thanks to Barbara for inviting me!

Thanks to my mother – I announced at the age of four, that I wanted to be an artist – she didn’t say no – and to my father, a serious gardener, who inspired my love of plants – he said my first word was `gaillardia’.

I graduated from Northern’s 4 year art course in 1942 in the middle of the war.  What did I learn? Anatomy, perspective, basic lettering forms and spacing, how to work with charcoal, pen and India ink, watercolors, and oils. A little different today? Many of us wanted to create landscapes like the ‘Group of Seven’. My life and career has been inspired by my teachers passion for art – their professionalism and their pleasure in sharing it! Four wonderful years!They were individuals! Luke Bradley taught illustration, made regular visits to the boiler room, and on his return, hanging on the door jam, recited `Tiger, tiger, burning bright….Ceramic teacher, Ethel Curry – if you were foolish enough to talk in class you received a well aimed pellet of clay on the back of your neck. L.A.C. Panton, Head of the Art Department, immaculately dressed in suit and tie, rocked back and forth on his heels as he described the function of the fulcrum in anatomy class. Leonard Brooks saddened us by leaving to join the navy – he was young and handsome. I loved them every one!Directly on graduation, I drew Captain Marvel – because of the war, the Canadian government had stopped the importation of comics and other things to save Canadian $$. A Toronto businessman bought the U.S. scripts of Captain Marvel and four artists redrew them with a #2 sable brush and India ink – black and white. We used printed heads of Marvel and Billy Batson, all views and sizes. This was when I really learned to draw. Toronto artist Harold Towne was fired for trying to improve Marvel.After 3 years, I went to the Charting Department of the A.C. Nielsen Company, where we added a `trend’ to the monthly sales charts for Campbell Soup, Nabob coffee, etc. using `ditto’ ink. Do you know `Ditto’ ink? The inked charts were placed face down on a wet spongy gelatin surface – .then paper placed on the surface became prints! The A.C. Nielsen Company taught me how business worked, a valuable experience for a young artist with no business experience. My Northern teachers were horrified as you were supposed to go to Rapid Grip and draw shoes, etc for catalogues.In 1979 I was showing my drawings at the Toronto City Hall Outdoor show, when the woman next to me told me that the company she worked wanted to make an art gallery in the lobby of their building…..and they were looking for someone to run it, – Interested? I applied, and so began one of the most interesting and important experiences of my life.The Merton Gallery was the lobby of Art & Design Studios, a prominent commercial art studio, created by the owners (landscape painters and commercial artists) to exhibit the work of emerging Canadian artists.
As curator, it was the first Toronto gallery to exhibit work by craft artists, including Kai Chan, David Kaye (now owner of the David Kaye Gallery), Viktor Tinkl, and painter Doris McCarthy, and others. Also I became an art consultant, coordinating commissions for architectural projects: for example: work for K Wing, Sunnybrook Hospital, Mount Pleasant Cemetery Chapel, and other Toronto municipal buildings…

In 1979 I was recruited to be Coordinator of the Craft Studio at Harbourfront Centre, to be located in the loading docks of a former shipping building….the bays became glass, ceramic, textile and metal studios. Large glass doors, provided light and access – Inside the building, a raised walkway allowed the public to watch the resident artists at work, and to learn about the process.

Hands up those who have walked through the studio!

Harbourfront Studio is an incubator, a three year residency for graduates of the design colleges, then out into the world to be a practicing artist. During my 30 years we invited established professional artists to give lectures and workshops, to assist in selection of resident artists and to mentor them. We organized symposia – again with recognized artists – “Exploring Contemporary Craft History, Theory & Critical Writing” papers were published by Coach House Press in Toronto. The Studios and Harbourfront are an important art and culture centre – and I recommend everyone to visit the studios – courses are offered

You will have noticed that there is a gap of ten years from 1951 – 1961 – Reason – I joined my boyfriend in Venezuela – A refrigeration engineer who had taken a job to install refrigeration in milk pasteurization plants across the country. We married there – and my days were filled with painting the mountains behind Caracas and studying and painting the tropical flowers, swimming at the beach and learning Spanish.

I hope I have inspired each of you in your exploration of the art, to enjoy the experience and to believe in yourself….that is important – This is an adventure unlike any other…

With sincere wishes to each of you for a successful and wonderful career…
Remember it is passion that makes everything possible, and it can be great fun!

– Jean Johnson

Jean’s Presentation at Northern Secondary – Friday, May 2, 12:45, room 314

– text submitted by Barbara D. Mathews, ACL – Visual Arts, Northern Secondary School