A Visit with an Artist - Steve Johnson

There's only a faint smell of paint in the air as I walk into Steve Johnson's studio. It is very neat and organized without any oily paint rags or used paint tubes lying around. And there is definitely no evidence that the quaint little building was ever a chicken coop - which it really was before Steve renovated it along with his 99-year-old house. The small room is surprisingly light and airy. Right on the studio's doorstep, so to speak, Steve's horses are kept in a huge corral.

I quickly realize why there isn't a paint smell in Steve's studio. The work in progress on the easel isn't a painting, it is a drawing. I look around the room and realize that this tall, lanky man with the inquisitive blue eyes sketches as much as he paints. I smile while I look at the wonderful sketch of eight horses pulling a freight wagon. Then I realized there is more humor and meaning in this sketch. One of the horses isn't finished. "The horse stays like that..." Steve says. 'Tm going to paint the hands of the artist into the sketch - drawing the horse," hence the name of the painting - "Horse Drawn."

Steve uses this type of humor in most of his sketches and paintings, playing on words. That is what separates this gifted artist from others. He not only draws and paints beautiful scenes with people and animals - he also puts tons of meaning into them. Sometimes it is funny like his painting "Dam Fun," and sometimes poignant like "Taught by their Mothers," but it always tells a story.

I comment in awe that his work looks like photos. He smiles a wry little smile. "That was the problem with my art when I went to college," he said. Steve explains that his work looked too 'real' for the teachers who wanted them to concentrate on the off-the-­wall and abstract, not realism. "This type of art..." Steve said, pointing to his work "was discouraged." Steve earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Weber State University. "The time in college really opened my eyes," Steve says. "But there was a wonderful, enormously talented teacher in college - Dale Bryner. He could do it all- abstract and realism. Some abstract artists do not really know how to do realism, but Dale was justified, the way I saw it - because he did both." Before he started painting seriously, Steve earned an associate's degree in architecture and worked for Ogden City as a plan reviewer and firefighter.

I ask Steve how he comes up with the subjects and scenes in his art. "Do you do it from visions in your head?" I ask. "No! There's nothing up there..," said Steve. I laugh but he is serious. "I take pictures - lots and lots of pictures," he says. He shows me stacks of photos. As I look around the room I can see the images from the photos in the paintings and sketches on the walls. Pictures of a cat, dog and a cowboy and horses are all separate pictures but magically come together in the huge harmonious, beautiful scene in "Horse Drawn."

Another painting shows Steve's 'sentimental' side. "Looking Back" is a painting of his son, Cooper on his beloved pony, Dandy. "I wanted to document Cooper on his favorite pony - before he outgrew him" he said. Steve remembers the day he took this picture of Cooper. "He just looks so miniature macho and Dandy is usually so cocky - he would take on any horse." Steve says he just had to capture the special relationship between the boy and his pony.

Perhaps one of Steve's most famous paintings is "Buffalo Girl." Steve did this painting of a neighbor girl especially for a Pioneer Day contest two years ago. He won. "There is an interesting story behind this painting," Steve says. "A woman contacted me from New Mexico and said she saw the pioneer girl image while driving through the area." She loved it and wanted to know if she could use the image as her new restau­rant's logo - on the building, menus, T-shirts, etc. They came to an agreement and then the lady said that she was going to call her restaurant "Buffalo Girl" Steve was mesmerized. She did not know that the painting's name was "Buffalo Girl." (See same subject in "Wrapped in Glory.")

A large part of Steve's art is on commission. This, he says, is very hard and difficult work "People have an image or idea in their head and then they expect me to come up with that image. But it is also very rewarding to eventually come up with a satisfactory work. Sometimes it is totally different from what they originally wanted but somehow it just works better and they love it in the end," said Steve. He has done commissions for clients ranging from the World Cup Downhill ski races to the N.I.C.U. at McKay Dee Hospital. Steve has also gained recogni­tion from range and ranching organizations that use his art and are so focused on the disappearing Old West.

I asked Steve how he would describe himself. "A problem solver," he answered without hesitation. I laugh at this but realize that this man is definitely not your regular artist. After hearing all that goes into a commissioned work and looking at the humor and the story behind each artwork, I realize that he wasn't only the painter or the sketcher. He was also a historian, a comedian, a storyteller, a poet, a philosopher and definitely a problem solver!

His mother, who handed Steve a pencil and paper to keep him quiet in church many years ago, did all of us a huge favor. Today, we in the Upper Ogden Valley and the rest of America are blessed with an extraordinary artist - the cowboy painter who holds on to America's heritage by painting and sketching it. And with his worn cowboy hat, curling mustache, kind blue eyes and easy manner, he becomes part of those long forgotten times - boots and all.