Friday, February 7th, 2025

Jennifer Johnson has joined the Mill Street Art Studio in Creemore.

Johnson has partnered with studio members Peter Adams, Martha Bull and Sue Miller.

The Stayner resident started painting 15 years ago at the age of 43.

She said she inherited her father’s paint box when he died. Her father was artistic but was steered away from the arts by his parents, who pressured him to become an engineer.

Johnson said well into a 28-year career with the Toronto Public Library she decided to exercise her own artistic expression, fulfilling a dream her father could not. She retired from her job three years ago, making it possible to dedicate more time to her artwork.

As an art student studying under Sue Miller, Johnson said she is now finding a language within her painting.

She has transitioned from a more classical figurative style toward impressionist landscapes, working mostly in oils and sometimes acrylics.

Johnson said in some ways it feels strange to have reinvented herself as an artist after retirement.

“Getting older is an opportunity for creativity,” she said, “for people to expand themselves.”

She said she is trying to push her own boundaries and is conscious of the themes in her life and work.

“You never know where your paintings are going to go and what they are going to mean to somebody,” said Johnson.

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