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Teachers on break: Webb art teacher presents work in Montana gallery

Todd Johnson has long- and short-term goals when it comes to being an artist.

Both can be difficult to work toward while teaching middle-schoolers at Webb School of Knoxville to become artists themselves.

"Most MFAs (Master of Fine Arts) aren't working in art five years after they graduate," said Johnson, 48. "My goal was to keep working. I have a personal goal to do one show a year."

Johnson has his MFA in ceramics from Eastern Michigan University but has been teaching art since 1996.

Still, he's been able to show his work across the country from the Islip Museum in New York to museums in Baltimore.

This summer, Johnson's art career took a step further when he was given his own gallery space at the A.L. Swanson Gallery in Helena, Mont. He and his artist wife, Sally Brogden, have a summer home in Helena and have spent a lot of time working there.

Johnson has three unique ceramic and woodworking pieces on display at the gallery, one of which was written about in The New York Times.

About four years ago, Johnson changed the way he did art because he felt he didn't have enough time to fully develop large art pieces.

"As you can imagine, anything on the side of teaching is difficult," Johnson said. "I started using other people's work as a jumping off point."

He has now taken famous art like "Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh and works by Philip Guston and Jasper Johns and incorporated them in his own work.

With Johns' and Guston's work, he created three-dimensional ledges that hold ceramic cups. They are functional, but when someone looks at them straight on, they resemble the original paintings.

Johnson's specialty is ceramic cups, something he began learning how to make at Luther College in Iowa. He decided to go to graduate school for ceramics and after that he and his wife traveled working various jobs in education and art before settling in Knoxville. His wife took a job at University of Tennessee.

Then, Johnson decided to get his teaching certificate.

"My parents were educators so it was just natural," Johnson said. "I could still make art. That's what summer is for."

Summer has also become a time to travel to the family's home in Montana. After spending a year as art residents at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena in 1991, he and Brogden bought a small summer house there.

"My wife and I have studios there," Johnson said. "Montana has a very warm place in our hearts.

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