Veteran uses art as therapy after active duty, cancer
A Navy veteran who uses art as therapy will be the featured artist at Whittington Gallery tonight as part of Gallery Walk.
Steve Johnson became interested in art when he was a kid. “I’ve always been drawing and started painting all through school,” he said, and “took every art class” the school offered. After joining the Navy, he continued his passion for creating artwork.
While in the military, he had access to recreation facilities on military bases offering a wide variety of art forms, such as ceramics, pottery and woodworking. He said he was on active duty for four years.
“I find it is therapeutic. … When I’m painting, it’s like a Zen moment,” he said. “I’m in chronic pain, but I don’t feel it as much” when painting.
Over time, Johnson eventually stopped creating artwork. “Wasn’t something I consciously decided to do, just happened,” he said.
The break from art ended after about 10 years when one of Johnson’s friends came home from the military. “I had a buddy of mine (who) went into the Navy, he moved back home.” His friend, Don Watson, is also an artist and when he started visiting with him the two started painting together.
Watson was a member of the Art Guild, which led Johnson to join, too.
After getting back into art, Johnson
joined Whittington Gallery, the second artist to join after John Faginkrantz started it. When asked to describe his artwork, Johnson said it’s a fusion of abstract and realism and he also does a lot of pop art.
Johnson said art is more of a hobby for him, and that he hasn’t taken art classes since he was in college. He said he has recently had to relearn how to paint after he was diagnosed with eye cancer about 18 months ago. In May 2019, he had surgery and now wears an eye patch.
He said he has ocular melanoma and “didn’t know if I would be able to paint” afterward because both his depth perception and his ability to see color have been affected. Johnson said he has adapted to the limitations, though.
“Small details are harder now,” he said, but to get around it he “uses a magnifying glass.”
Johnson said he recommends that everyone “get your eyes dilated every year,” as the disease “if left unchecked, it’s not good.”
The therapy aspect of Johnson’s painting has helped get him through his fight with cancer. “That has helped me to get a lot out. When you get diagnosed with a major disease like cancer, you start to think about your own mortality.”
He said when he starts stressing, he can “go into painting” and “don’t worry about things.”
Johnson won a regional award in 2016 at the Veterans Administration Creative Art Fair for a painting he did of a Japanese woman. He said he was inspired to make the painting because “I’m married to an Asian lady.”
He said he is trying to get other military veterans to pick up the hobby, noting that Whittington Gallery has several other veterans, including his friend, Watson, on display.
The award-winning piece will be on display tonight. He said when Faginkrantz asked him to be the featured artist, “I was like ‘Sure.’ I’m honored that he would choose me. I think it’ll be a good time; fantastic to see everyone.”
Johnson said that he will have around 20 new pieces at the gallery tonight, and he already has around 10 or so pieces that are always on display. He always has a booth for Gallery Walk.
Gallery Walk is from 5 to 9 p.m. today.