Arthur Johnsen

{{Short description|American painter}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Arthur Johnsen | honorific_suffix = | image =  | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date|1952|08|27}} | birth_place = Oahu, Hawaii | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|11|15|1952|08|27}} | death_place = Hilo, Hawaii | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | education = | alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley | known_for = Hawaiiana<br>Hawaiian landscapes<br>Paintings of the Red Road | notable_works = ''The Goddess Pele'' | style = Impressionism | movement = | spouse = | partner = | awards =  | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = [https://www.facebook.com/arthur.johnsen.90 Remembering Arthur Johnsen] | module = }} '''Arthur Johnsen''' (August 27, 1952 – November 15, 2015)<ref name="memorium">{{cite web |title=In Memorium Arthur Johnsen |url=https://www.ehcc.org/content/memoriam-arthur-johnsen |website=East Hawaii Cultural Center |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Bob |title=Arthur Johnsen August 27, 1952 - November 15, 2015 |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10214382003134745&set=p.10214382003134745 |website=Remembering Arthur Johnsen |publisher=Facebook |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=November 15, 2017}}</ref> was an American artist. Born and raised on Oahu and living most of his post-university life on the Big Island of Hawaii, he is known for his impressionistic paintings and murals of Hawaiiana.

He is best known internationally for his 2003 painting of the volcano goddess Pele, which was chosen from more than 140 entries to represent the goddess at the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, and is on display at the main visitor center there. He is also known for his Hawaiian landscape paintings, including those of the rural tree-lined coastal Red Road in Lower Puna.

==Life and career== Johnsen was born in Hawaii on the island of Oahu,<ref name="WinningVision">{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Rod |title=Winning vision of Pele an unusual take |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/08/15/news/index8.html |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=August 15, 2003}}</ref><ref name="memorium"/><ref name="fresh">{{cite news |title=Fresh face put on volcano park |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Aug/16/ln/ln20a.html |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |work=The Honolulu Advertiser |date=August 16, 2003}}</ref><ref name="NewPele">{{cite news |title=New Pele Painting Selected For Kilauea Visitor Center |url=https://www.nps.gov/havo/news/pr_20030814.htm |work=Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park |date=August 14, 2003 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20031016162643/https://www.nps.gov/havo/news/pr_20030814.htm |archivedate=October 16, 2003}}</ref> and attended Punahou High School, graduating in 1970.<ref>{{cite news |title=Alumni Notes |url=https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1516652273/punahou/pd3ytobnugstem7uxxp9/v63-4_Summer2017AlumniNotes.pdf#page=19 |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |publisher=Punahou High School |date=Summer 2017 |page=76}}</ref><ref name=about>{{cite web |title=About the artist |url=http://www.arthurjohnsen.net:80/about |website=ArthurJohnsen.net |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100404063316/http://www.arthurjohnsen.net/about |archivedate=April 4, 2010 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He studied graphic design at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1974.<ref name=resume>{{cite web |title=Arthur Johnsen, artist |url=http://artjohnsen.tripod.com/resume.html |website=ArtJohnsen.tripod.com |accessdate=August 28, 2018}}</ref><ref name=punahou70/><ref name=about/> He returned to Oahu for work and further study,<ref name=punahou70/><ref name=resume/><ref name=about/> lived for a while in Volcano Village on the Big Island beginning in the late 1970s,<ref name="NewPele"/><ref name="fresh"/> and later spent five years in Los Angeles doing freelance design work in the garment and costume industry.<ref name=punahou70>{{cite web |title=Arthur Johnsen – The Art in Arthur |url=http://punahou70.com/arthur-johnsen-the-art-in-arthur/ |website=Punahou Class of 1970 |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=May 14, 2011}}</ref><ref name=about/><ref name=resume/>

He moved to Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1989.<ref name="fresh"/><ref name="NewPele"/> He was artist-in-residence at Kalani Oceanside Retreat from 1989 to 1998, and also did fabric design for Kona Village Resort.<ref name="WinningVision"/><ref name=punahou70/><ref name=about/> In 1992 he moved to his own house in the Lower Puna area.<ref name="fresh"/>

His paintings were sold at the ''Ohana o Hawaii'' gallery in Hilo,<ref name="WinningVision"/> and when owner Randy Farias retired in 2005, it was renamed the Arthur Johnsen Gallery under the ownership of Johnsen and a business partner.<ref name=about/> In 2012, Johnsen closed the gallery and moved his paintings to the newly formed One Gallery in Hilo.<ref name=keola>{{cite news |title=Life in Business: One Gallery |url=https://keolamagazine.com/business/life-in-business-one-gallery/ |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |work=Ke Ola Magazine}}</ref>

Johnsen also created murals commissioned by a number of resorts, restaurants, public buildings, and cruise ships throughout the Hawaiian islands.<ref name="WinningVision"/><ref name=keola/><ref name=resume/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tunsch |first1=Thomas |title=Portion of a 9' tall mural in the lobby/parking garage of the (former) Aston Waikiki Beach Tower, w2000 by Arthur Johnsen |url=https://curiator.com/art/arthur-johnsen/portion-of-a-9-tall-mural-in-the-lobby-parking-garage-of-the-former-as |website=Curiator |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=March 4, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Wanda A. |title=Cruising with Pride |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jul/11/il/il05a.html |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Honolulu Advertiser |date=July 11, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Wanda A. |title=Outta here |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Mar/04/tr/FP703040339.html |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Honolulu Advertiser |date=March 4, 2007}}</ref>

His works were exhibited at venues including the Volcano Art Center,<ref>{{cite news |title=Art Calendar |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/28/il/il22a.html |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Honolulu Advertiser |date=February 28, 2005}}</ref> Honolulu Hale,<ref>{{cite news |title=Art Calendar |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/06/il/il16a.html |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Honolulu Advertiser |date=March 6, 2005}}</ref> and the East Hawaii Cultural Center.<ref>{{cite web |title=July–August 2011 Happenings |url=https://issuu.com/keolamagazine/docs/h2011-4/70 |website=Ke Ola Magazine|accessdate=August 31, 2018 |page=71 |date=July–August 2011}}</ref><ref name=about/> In 2013 he was exhibited at the Andrew Rose Gallery in Honolulu, among eleven artists collectively considered the "leading landscape painters from the Islands".<ref>{{cite web |title=Andrew Rose Gallery - Presents 'Contemporary Hawaiian Landscape Painting' |url=http://www.firstfridayhawaii.com/calendar/201304/7679.html |website=First Friday Hawaii |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |date=April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kanai |first1=Maria |title=Canvas Travels |url=https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10524/56569/1/May_8_2013_Vol_23_No_19OCR.pdf |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Honolulu Weekly |date=May 8–14, 2013 |page=8}}</ref>

A retrospective of his work, in particular his ''plein air'' impressionistic paintings of vistas of the Red Road in Lower Puna, was presented by the East Hawaii Cultural Center at the Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art from January 3–29, 2014.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arthur Johnsen Retrospective |url=https://hawaiimoca.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/arthur-johnsen-retrospective/ |website=Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art |accessdate=28 August 2018 |date=January 28, 2014}}</ref><ref name=RedRoadBook>{{cite web |title=Paintings of the Red Road by Arthur Johnsen |url=http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174655/http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf |publisher=EHCC/Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art Publishers |archivedate=August 31, 2018 |date=2014}}</ref> The museum and cultural center published a book of the exhibited works, entitled ''Paintings of the Red Road by Arthur Johnsen''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Book sales benefit Hilo art museum |url=http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2015/11/12/hawaii-news/book-sales-benefit-hilo-art-museum/ |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |date=November 12, 2015}}</ref><ref name=RedRoadBook/>

Some of Johnsen's paintings have been held by Cedar Street Gallery in Honolulu.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arthur Johnsen |url=http://www.cedarstreetgalleries.com/bin/works.cgi?Artist=Johnsen1952-2015Arthur |website=Cedar Street Galleries |accessdate=August 31, 2018}}</ref> As of 2019, some of his paintings were still held at Third Dimension Gallery in Kohala Coast.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arthur Johnsen |url=http://www.thirddimensiongallery.com/artists/johnsen/index.htm |website=Third Dimension Gallery |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329225524/http://www.thirddimensiongallery.com/artists/johnsen/index.htm |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==''The Goddess Pele''== In early 2003, the group of Native Hawaiian elders, or kupuna, advising the superintendent of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park on cultural matters were concerned that the painting of the volcano goddess Pele in the main visitor center did not portray the goddess in a culturally appropriate manner.<ref name=wright/> The portrayal which had been on display at the center since 1966,<ref name="fresh"/> a 1927 painting by D. Howard Hitchcock, pictured Pele as a blonde Caucasian woman.<ref name=wright>{{cite journal |last1=Bernbaum |first1=Edwin |title=The Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature in the Management and Governance of Protected Areas |journal=The George Wright Forum |date=2017 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=171–174 |url=http://www.georgewright.org/342bernbaum.pdf#page=4 |accessdate=August 28, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Rendering Pele">{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Rod |title=Rendering Pele |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2003/07/13/news/story2.html |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=July 13, 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hawaii Volcanoes |url=https://www.sutori.com/item/a-famous-work-of-art-associated-with-the-hawaii-volcanoes-park-is-a-painting-of |website=Sutori.com |accessdate=August 28, 2018}}</ref><ref name=nimmo>{{cite book |last1=Nimmo |first1=H. Arlo |title=Pele, Volcano Goddess of Hawai'i: A History |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland |pages=169–170 |isbn=9780786486533 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n2ii6J0C0hYC&pg=PA169}}</ref><ref name="CRM">{{cite journal |last1=Spoon |first1=Jeremy |title=The 'Visions of Pele' Competition and Exhibit at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park |journal=CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship |date=2007 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=72–74 |url=https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=anth_fac |accessdate=August 28, 2018}}</ref> The Kupuna Committee and the park staff worked with the Sacred Mountains Program of The Mountain Institute, which had funds from the Ford Foundation, to put out a state-wide call in March 2003 for paintings of Pele which the elders would select from in August of that year.<ref name=wright/><ref name="fresh"/><ref name="NewPele"/><ref name="CRM"/><ref name="Rendering Pele"/> An $8,000 prize for the winning entry was offered.<ref name=wright/><ref name="fresh"/> More than 140 paintings were submitted for the competition.<ref name=wright/><ref name="CRM"/><ref name="fresh"/>

Johnsen's entry, titled ''The Goddess Pele'', was selected in the blind competition as the winner, as best representing Pele's "deepest cultural meanings".<ref name="fresh"/><ref name="NewPele"/><ref name="CRM"/> It depicts Pele with a serene, compassionate expression and two objects in her hands representing important stories connected with her, against a background of volcanic activity.<ref name=wright/><ref name="WinningVision"/><ref name=nimmo/> Johnsen used a Native Hawaiian as his model,<ref name="CRM"/> and lit her face from below; living near Kalapana and having watched many lava flows at night, he knew that lava throws light from below up toward faces.<ref name="WinningVision"/>

The portrayal depicts Pele striding through the lava flow in the forest with her digging staff ''Pāʻoa'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Koda |first1=Katalin |title=Pele's Pa'oa: The Power of the Fire Stick |url=http://fireofthegoddess.com/peles-paoa-the-power-of-the-fire-stick/ |website=Fire of the Goddess |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=March 19, 2014}}</ref> which she used for excavating while searching for a home that she finally found at Halemaʻumaʻu, in her left hand. Her right hand holds an egg containing her unborn sister goddess Hiʻiaka, which she carried on her journey from Tahiti.<ref name=nimmo/><ref name="fresh"/>

The painting represents a more native view of Pele, who is regarded by Native Hawaiians not as a wrathful deity but as a benevolent, life-giving goddess who creates new land with her lava.<ref name=wright/><ref name="Sacred Natural Sites">{{cite book |last1=Wild |first1=Robert |last2=McLeod |first2=Christopher |last3=Valentine |first3=Peter |title=Sacred Natural Sites: Guidelines for Protected Area Managers |date=2008 |publisher=International Union for Conservation of Nature |isbn=9782831710396 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2OTEoYdXS3QC&pg=PA25}} Plate 5.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Verschuuren |first1=Bas |title=CSVPA Promotes Cultural and Spiritual Significance of Nature at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii |url=https://csvpa.org/2016/08/csvpa-promotes-cultural-and-spiritual-significance-of-nature-at-the-iucn-world-conservation-congress-in-hawaii/ |website=Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas |publisher=IUCN World Conservation Congress |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=August 23, 2016}}</ref><ref name=nimmo/> In interviews, Johnsen stated, "I show her with a staff in one hand to represent her as a destroyer, and cradling an egg in the other, representing regeneration and the fact that new life springs up from lava."<ref name="NewPele"/> "It's not all about destruction. The egg is a symbol of regeneration and new life. Lava creates new land as well as it destroys old places."<ref name="WinningVision"/><ref name=nimmo/>

He noted that he had been living in Puna, close to the active lava flows, since 1989, and had seen the destruction of Kalapana and the beach at Kaimu, and had watched lava flows from his home.<ref name="fresh"/> He added that his proximity to the steady active lava flows made him "feel closely connected [to Pele] on a very personal level".<ref name="fresh"/>

In 2005, Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park finished refurbishing its Visitor Center, and replaced the Hitchcock painting with Johnsen's ''The Goddess Pele''.<ref name="Exhibit Eruption">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Julie |title=Exhibit Eruption |url=http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/February-2005/Exhibit-Eruption/ |accessdate=August 31, 2018 |work=Honolulu |date=February 1, 2005}}</ref><ref name="Sacred Natural Sites"/> It is on permanent display beside the center's fireplace.<ref name="Exhibit Eruption"/>

==Personal life== Johnsen lived along the Red Road near Kehena in Lower Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii, in the home he built in 1992.<ref name="fresh"/> He died in November 2015 following a sudden illness.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Bob |title=Friends of Arthur Johnsen |url=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10207841970478016 |website=Remembering Arthur Johnsen |publisher=Facebook |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=November 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Johnsen |first1=Carl |title=We just heard from Bob |url=https://www.facebook.com/arthur.johnsen.90/posts/10153808576627783 |website=Remembering Arthur Johnsen |publisher=Facebook |accessdate=August 28, 2018 |date=November 15, 2015}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.facebook.com/arthur.johnsen.90 Remembering Arthur Johnsen] on Facebook *{{cite web |title=''Paintings of the Red Road by Arthur Johnsen'' |url=http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831174655/http://jhawkinsdesign.com/portfolio/images/print/AJohnson_RedRdBook.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2018-08-31 |publisher=EHCC/Hawaii Museum of Contemporary Art Publishers |date=2014}} *[http://onegalleryhawaii.com/pgajohnsen.html "The Art of Arthur Johnsen"] at One Gallery *[http://www.cedarstreetgalleries.com/bin/works.cgi?Artist=Johnsen1952-2015Arthur Listing with illustrations at Cedar Street Gallery]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnsen, Arthur}} Category:1952 births Category:2015 deaths Category:20th-century American painters Category:21st-century American painters Category:21st-century American male artists Category:American male painters Category:People from Oahu Category:People from Puna, Hawaii Category:Painters from Hawaii Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:Punahou School alumni Category:20th-century American male artists