Sandra McMorris Johnson

{photo credit: sandramcmorrishohnson.com}

Sandra McMorris Johnson has been a working fiber artist for 30 years. She believes fibers are a source of connection for all of us. She uses her colored fibers much like a painter uses paint.

The enclosed pictures are from her monumental clothesline installation piece called “Millennium 2000” situated in Mount Pisgah, Lake County, Oregon. To see the exhibit, visitors had to hike a 1,513 foot mountain summit to take part in this unique connecting splash of colors and motion that zigzaged across the hillside. McMorris Johnson created this piece to serve as a colorful expression of how she feels about life. It also reflects a deeper recognition that the work might also be addressing her fear of being diagnosed with breast cancer and given a 50 percent change to live past 2000. Only when given this news do you then know how you will react? For McMorris Johnson the swatches standing tall on top of a mountainside represent strength and beauty, taking each gust of uncertain swirls of wind with a flowing grace.

I am drawn to the inviting outdoor arena in which to produce artwork as opposed to a confined enclosed cube of 4 squared walls. To hike up the mountain, breath fresh air, take in the sites and hang up 2,000 pieces of laundry would make me feel at first very domestic yet I would soon realize how far away from work schedules and daily pressures I would be….sigh!…the exhibit was over before I found it.

http://www.sandramcmorrisjohnson.com/Sandra_McMorris_Johnson/Clotheslines.html

Her 3D fiber art is also interesting. Unable to get photo's off the site. Here is a direct link.

http://www.sandramcmorrisjohnson.com/Sandra_McMorris_Johnson/3-D_Fiber.html#8