“My work is centered upon themes of the crossroads: a focal point/threshold of challenge and transformation. For the last thirty years I have been composing spaces activated as prayers: requests for guidance, conscious statements of intent, and thanksgiving. For me, to speak from one's own experience is to empower one's self-creation. Memory, observation, and imagination are resources that I draw upon: images emerge from within the day to day. My process involves marking materials and spaces with time spent: working, writing, and speaking through the voices that form and inform me. I bind layered narrative passages together with functional and symbolic references to personal, and cultural history. I am working in a sculptural format that integrates the dramatic presentation of a stage set, with the oral tradition of storytelling, while consciously focusing upon private spaces that sometimes exist in the absence of a performer.
“To speak from one’s own experience is to empower one’s self-creation.”
I carefully select materials that function as witnesses: recovered old growth wood, unprocessed bees wax, stone, reclaimed fabric; and call upon them as a sentient witness and reminder of the resilience of those who came before me.
Johnny Coleman is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. His sculptural work and sound installations are composed as intentional gestures in homage and prayer. He holds the Young Hunter Professorship of Art and Africana Studies at Oberlin College.
RECENT EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
2021 Constellations As Yet Unnamed,
New Histories, New Futures Exhibition,
Cleveland Museum of Art, Transformer Station. June
2021 And The Presence Of Light,
Weston Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. Jan,
2020 In Celebration of Toni Morrison: A Gesture of Love and Reflection (conceived, composed, and organized the day-long event: live streamed to the world). Wurtzel Theater, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. Feb.
2019 Black Bird (For A Brown Baby Boy), Curated Storefront, Law Building Lobby, Akron, OH. Aug.
SPACES SWAP Artist In Residence Program, SPACES Gallery, Jan.
Crossing The River (For Lee Howard Dobbins), SPACES Galley, Jan.
2018 Front International Triennial Artists In Residence Program: Madison Arts Campus, Glenville, OH. Oct., 2017 through July, 2018
Upon Reflection, MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, OH. July
Reflections From Here, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Glenville, OH. July, 2018. Front International Triennial: An American City
2016 Poem For Brother Yusef, N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI.
2015 Well Spring At Newport (For Catherine and Levi Coffin) Commissioned project. Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
2013 Flight: Requiem For Lee Howard Dobbins, Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
2012 Procession: Song of the Underground Railroad, Sculpture Center, Cleveland, OH.
Zygote Artist In Residence Exhibition: Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH.
2011 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: A Response, Mountain View College. Dallas, TX.
2010 In The Tradition: Original Ancestors, Kohl Building, Oberlin College, Installed.
2007 In A Silent Way, Storage Space Project, SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH.
GRANTS & AWARDS
2015 OAC Individual Artist's Grant
2007 Research and Development Grant: Oberlin College
2005 Research and Development Grant: Oberlin College
2004 OAC Individual Artist's Grant
2004 Research and Development Grant: Oberlin College
2003 CLEVELAND ARTS PRIZE: Visual Arts
2001 Research and Development Grant: Oberlin College
1999 Research and Development Grant: Oberlin College
1997 Outstanding Alumnus of the Year: OTIS INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN
1996 OAC Individual Artists Grant
1995 OAC Project Grant: Produced compact disc of Crossroads sound elements
1994 NEA Projects Grant: SUSHI Performance and Visual Arts (sponsoring institution)
1994 Research and Development Grant: Oberlin College
1992 ART MATTERS Grant
1991 Russell Foundation Grant
PUBLISHED WORK
1998 Winged Evocations And Albert Chong, essay included within catalogue published by the Allen Memorial Museum, Oberlin College
1999 Song For Ayo, WhiteWalls Magazine: Crafting History, Issue 41 (fall/winter)
2000 Landscapes Of The Mind, (essay), Space, Site, Intervention: Situating Installation Art Edited by Erika Suderberg, University Of Minnesota Press
EDUCATION
M.F.A., University of California at San Diego
B.F.A., Otis Art Institute of the Parson’s School of Design