SUMMER: Fire Proof, Craters of the Moon National Monument, 2023

Dress, hand-dyed and silk-screened silk

Limited edition collection of photographs on 100% cotton archival paper

Summer in Idaho: Heat, fire, smoke and drought, inspired this body of work, Fireproof. The images were photographed during the extreme heat of August 2023 in Craters of the Moon National Monument in eastern Idaho. Johnson chose this formerly volcanic location the previous winter while skiing across its snow covered rock. The white snow on the black lava fields reminded her of being on the glaciers in Alaska. Like a glacier, the craters are a geological feature that have been transformed by heat, melt, flow and then return to a solid. This relationship to the geology resonated with her as she reflected on her history of working with clay. The dress was made by Johnson, hand dyed with marigolds, coreopsis and cochineal then screen printed through lace with a black walnut dye. The shape of the dress was cut and sewn to mimic the fiery wings of Monarchs and Northern Flickers and embellished with copper mesh to act as armor against the elements. Covered in wet clay, dried and crisp, her skin is like the desert ground; she becomes a clay sculpture. The marigold and sage bouquet represents fire and smoke, an offering to our burning landscape. The inception of Fireproof, revealed the other bodies of work to be seasons as well. “Twelve years ago, I could not have planned this collection of works to culminate as the four seasons,” Johnson says. “I kept working and followed my gut – artmaking takes endurance.” As this exhibition opens we are eager for fall, a shift in temperatures and light, a break from the intense sun - the earth keeps turning, we continue to adapt and endure.