MOORHEAD — A new photography and film exhibition by Jonathan Johnson titled Mixtape: Landscape opened in the Cyrus M. Running Gallery on Concordia’s Campus on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
Johnson is an associate professor at Otterbein University in Ohio, who uses photography and film to express ideas surrounding place, identity and nature. He showcased a variety of techniques in his exhibition, including film, landscape photography and cyanotypes.
Johnson had to step outside his own head in order to incorporate the different techniques he used in photography and film to create a collage of abstract work, Johnson said.
“I looked at the show as a mini-introspective in a way, capturing works from a more recent time period, but not just one body or piece of art, I approached it from a retrospective way. What ties them together aside from approach is the underlying concept of the landscape and nature photography genre. It is relatively consistent across different mediums,” said Johnson.
Johnson recently completed a residency in Scotland, with much of his work featuring shots of the Scottish countryside.
A public reception took place during the exhibition’s opening where students and the surrounding Fargo-Moorhead community were welcomed to view the pieces and hear remarks from Johnson.
Zoey Zachek, a fifth-year student who attended the exhibition’s opening, said Johnson’s art resonated with her.
“It was really cool to see how the basics I’ve learned at Concordia are fleshed out with a professional artist. Johnathan is an incredibly creative mind, he would use nature as a catalyst to create his pieces and it was really cool to see how he pushed the limits and bounds with his work,” said Zachek.
A unique feature of Johnson’s exhibition is the inclusion of a bibliography which features books, photographs and movies that influenced and inspired his work, something students appreciated.
“So many times, artists don’t really talk about where they get their inspiration from. Nobody makes their work literally from nothing, you need to draw from the resources, the media, the people around you. For him to be so upfront about his inspiration showed a lot about how great of a mentor he is,” said Zachek.
Chris Mortenson, an associate professor of photography and director of the Cyrus M. Running Gallery, reached out to Johnson for the first exhibition of the school year.
“We have six shows a year (in the gallery), the first two are invitational shows where we bring in visiting artists and the medium changes with each show,” Mortenson said.
Mortenson and Johnson have been friends since graduate school. Both artists discussed how it’s a strategic decision to bring in an artist you know to put on an exhibition, as you can rely on them to be engaged and interact with students.
Johnson said his favorite part of participating in exhibitions is getting to have conversations with the students and show them the different avenues they can follow to create their art.
Mortenson said it was important to spread out what types of art comes to Concordia so that students concentrating on different mediums have a chance to see work and meet with an artist who specializes in their preferred medium.
“There are a lot of different avenues I want to explore as an artist… that’s why I feel like the liberal arts education at Concordia is such a great thing because we do have to explore so many different areas. You have to take classes in things that might not be your main medium and it’s great to get that experience and broaden your perspective.” Zachek said
Both Johnson and Mortenson explained how it is important for students to have exposure to artists and techniques outside of what they learned in the classroom.
“In the exact same way readers need to read and musicians need to listen to music, artists have to look at art because you need to know what is out there that can inspire you, where your work fits within the context of what has been made, what is being made, what might be made, because then you can talk about your work better. For me, bringing people in just enriches that for students,” said Mortenson.
Johnson’s exhibition will be on display through October 3rd, and Anna Johnson, a painter, will be featured in the gallery starting October 10th.
