Barry Johnston
Author | Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
Website
After graduating in architecture from Georgia Institute of Technology, studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and National Academy of Design, and serving in Vietnam in 1968 as a Combat Artist, Johnston pursued European methods of art and architecture, living in Florence, Italy, between 1970 and 1972 and in Pietrasanta, Italy, at the T.... more
After graduating in architecture from Georgia Institute of Technology, studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and National Academy of Design, and serving in Vietnam in 1968 as a Combat Artist, Johnston pursued European methods of art and architecture, living in Florence, Italy, between 1970 and 1972 and in Pietrasanta, Italy, at the Tommasi Foundry between 1985 to 1988. He established a studio in Washington, D.C. for seventeen years, and finally settled into his present studio in Baltimore, MD. As a practicing sculptor for over fifty years and an architectural designer, Johnston’s primary focus has been on humanity. His sculptures are light and lively while complimenting their architectural setting. He seeks to visualize fundamental emotions in three dimensions, breathing life into them. While adding levity, movement, and humanity, his designs are derived from abstract forms symbolically embodying the overall vision. He breaks down my sculptural visions into the most fundamental abstract shapes – circles, triangles, and squares, allowing those images to emerge as found in nature. He then integrates that abstraction into a realistic statement, seeking to stir universal feelings in others.
Recently completed sculptural commissions include Faith, Hope, and Love in 2007, 8.25' high, and Mother and Child called “Joy,” 2005, Bronze, 7' high, commissioned by White River Medical Center as a fountain in the waiting lobby. The mother dances on the water surface in exuberant joy over her newborn child. In 2004, he created two life-size figures “The Good Samaritan” for a park in Baltimore and a relief for Notre Dame College of Baltimore caller Mother Teresa. Other public commissions include a 14.4' bronze called “Mariner” for the front of the City Hall in Hampton, Virginia, a 19.5' bronze called “Wedlock” for the entrance of Lafayette Center in Washington, D.C., “Faith, Hope, and Love” located south of Seattle, and numerous portrait commissions including recently installed in Washington, D.C., “Orlando Letelier.”