Britta Johnson is a Seattle-based artist and animator.
She co-animated a Fleet Foxes music video that will be a part of Bumbershoot’s Animation District this year. The animation district will include virtual and augmented reality, gaming, contemporary art animations and film screenings.
Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?
Johnson: I’ve always loved making things. In college and for a few years after, I focused heavily on printmaking, and since then, have been doing mostly stop-motion animation. This means that any medium is fair game: wax, cloth, cut paper, found objects, electronics, goo, people, sunlight, etc., can all be animated. I also seem to have a thing for marbles, so there’s that.
Can you tell us about your artistic process and how the different stages work into it?
I often have a seed of thought about some kind of topic, and then I’ll also have a material or a technical process I’m interested in, and those two parts will kind of find each other in a way that seems promising. So then I’ll go about doing tests and research and making/finding what I need, and then as the project itself is coming together, themes shift or new ones emerge that are more interesting than what I started with, and ideally, I’m able to make adjustments to guide the project to hold that more exciting form. Have you read Richard Hugo’s “The Triggering Town”? That essay is the closest I’ve found to describing what I try to do.
Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.
Everywhere — the news, conversations, stuff I see laying around the city, on walks in nature, at thrift stores, stuff I read, stray phrases, song lyrics, etc. A lot of my art involves natural phenomena and variations in light and texture, and that stuff is happening all around us all the time.
Do you have a specific “beat” you like best – nature, food, profiles, etc.?
I tend to be omnivorous — I like learning about all kinds of things. I have a weakness for the visual languages of science and math, microscopy and diagrams and that kind of thing. And I’m interested in justice and making a better world, so I’m curious about politics and history and economics, and the way systems of power work.
Do you have one piece of art that means more to you or is extremely special to you?
There’s a series I’ve been working on that has to do with illness and healing. The videos are “psychoanatomies” — imaginary depictions of my insides. One of the works is a three-channel piece called Homeostasis; it’s meant to be projected so when you stand inside of it, the three videos are in front of you and on either side, and then there’s a rumbling soundtrack that’s kind of amniotic. The piece has a lot of influence idea-wise, but one of the main ones is my mother’s manual therapy practice, where the healing work she does is totally practical, physical, and mystical at the same time. I think it’s very strange and fascinating to be in a body; there’s still so much we don’t know about how and why our bodies do what they do.
What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?
I grew up near Chicago; it was a special treat to visit the big museums in the city: the Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium, as well as the Art Institute. I think that’s where a lot of my visual sensibility and interests come from. That and being out in nature — in the woods, in the garden, hiking, camping. And time spent making art with mentors and friends. I’ve been lucky to collaborate with a lot of wonderful artists and musicians over the years.
If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?
I’m pretty good about keeping my website updated. I’ve also got an Instagram (@thekmpi), but I don’t post a ton.
What is next for you? Anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?
I’ve got a bunch of fun projects in the works. For the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with making LED sculptures that can play animations, and one of those pieces (Star Portal) is going to be in Bumbershoot this summer; I’m working on a couple more pieces like that. Ooh, and I’m making a live-action short! It’s been a while since I directed people, and I have some funding from a CityArtist grant, so that’s going to be exciting, too.
Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)
I actually don’t drink coffee these days. My body can’t handle the caffeine (even decaf). I really miss it; I used to be a barista.
About ‘Artist of the Week’: This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at hello@seattlerefined.com. And if you’re wondering just what constitutes art, that’s the beauty of it; it’s up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section.
