Paul Johnston
Laurel, MD
My Art is a mirror of soundless mind and visual poetry ... 50 year Retrospective 1973 - 2023
MessageDr. Paul Johnston is a sculptor, furniture designer, painter, and retired art professor from Gallaudet University — the world’s only university for the deaf.
Johnston’s parents were hearing and did not learn sign language. So Johnston taught himself ASL. His parents were however artists. So he had a window into the visual language of art.
Johnston is a founding member of De’VIA (Deaf View Image Art). This group of artists and scholars was the first of its kind to set a framework for how to discuss and generate art based on Deaf experiences. His research centers around the lives of Deaf artists and how they convert their lived experiences into art and design.
Dr. Johnston is a frequent lecturer, exhibition juror, critic, moderator, and guest artist at venues worldwide. In 2011 he was artist in residence at Siena Art Institute in Siena, Italy.
In an experimental design class at Penn State, Dr. Johnston asked students to think about how their ability to listen to sounds removes barrier in their lives. They created art based on the privilege of hearing.
Expressive in many mediums, Dr. Johnston was the first deaf student to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts in furniture design and woodworking from the School for American Craftsman at Rochester Institute of Technology. He holds a master’s and doctoral degree in art education with Phi Delta Kappa honors from Penn State University.
His visual artistry is not confined to canvas. As an actor, Dr. Johnston was a company member of the National Theatre of the Deaf, and faculty member of the Division of Performing Arts at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He was an original designer of Signing Mime — a performing company — where he wrote and directed two experimental plays. He has taught and led workshops and lectures on ASL poetry, creative signing and visual gestural communication.
Statement
As a deaf artist, I often weave sign language and themes of deaf culture into my compositions. For example, how can someone who hears no sounds interpret music? My series titled “Soundless Mind” attempts to answer that question with visual symphonic design. Just as music relies on melody, harmony and rhythm, my works showcase how line, shape, texture and color blend together in unison to make sound visual.
In my collection on Visual Musical Notation, I assign different colors for the eyes, body, mouth, neck, hands, and arms. These are the parts of the body used in sign communication. And each reflects a distinct tone, expression and movement. In my series on Visual Linguistics, I explore how the hand physically works and its ability to convey emotion in sign language.
The focus on the human hand is also a common theme in my collection “HandMasks.” I wanted to explore how when you put on a mask you become a different person. I use shapes of hands to convey themes of mythology and music to inhabit these character rich masks.
Themes of social justice appear in my work. For example, many deaf individuals are born to hearing parents who never learn how to sign. These children miss the critical window for language development. The education system emphasizes English and often skips over sign language. It’s problematic because sign language is often the natural language for the deaf.
My painting, “Deaf Education Pinball,” reflects this frustrating reality for all too many Deaf students. In my mixed media, “Statue of Phonocentricism,” I acknowledge how society prioritizes a sound-based world. Deaf people rely on the visual.
Professor Amy Stevens from Gallaudet University and I have developed several theories on the visual arts from the perspective of hearing and deaf individuals. Additionally, we are exploring the Visual Art of the Deaf Experience in order to empower the quality of life and education of deaf and hard of hearing peoples.
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