Book- That Was the Answer: Interviews with Ray Johnson

THAT WAS THE ANSWER:

INTERVIEWS WITH RAY JOHNSON

Edited by Julie J. Thomson

Publication date: September 4, 2018

Published by Soberscove Press
Distributed by ARTBOOK / D.A.P.

https://soberscove.com/book/that-was-the-answer/

Ray Johnson (1927–1995) was a singular artist, whose life and work were inextricably linked. Born in Detroit, Johnson attended Black Mountain College before moving to New York, where his work anticipated Pop art and he was active in early Fluxus circles. Best known for his collages and Mail art activities, including what became known as the New York Correspondence School, he operated fluidly in a wide range of modes. For Johnson, everything and everyone were potential material for his art—any form could become a space for artistic activity—and the form of the interview proved no exception.

That Was the Answer: Interviews with Ray Johnson brings together a selection of interviews and conversations from 1963 to 1987 that offer unique access to Johnson’s distinctive thinking and working methods. Throughout, Johnson’s responses are marked by his humor and close attention to language. Gathering these interviews for the first time, That Was the Answer serves as an exceptional introduction to Ray Johnson as well as a resource for those who are interested in gaining deeper insight into this artist and his kaleidoscopic body of work.

Talk- Two Ways of Looking at Black Mountain College: Ray Johnson and also the Photographers

Two Ways of Looking at Black Mountain College: Ray Johnson and also the Photographers

Wednesday, March 28, 2018, 6:00pm

Turchin Center for the Visual Arts

Black Mountain College Semester, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

In this talk I will combine and share my two areas of research and writing about artists who were at Black Mountain College. The first part will focus on Ray Johnson who was a student at Black Mountain College (1945–48). Johnson led to my interest in the photographers who were at Black Mountain College and the second part of my talk will focus on them and the 2017 exhibition Begin to See:The Photographers of Black Mountain College that I curated.

Talk- Birds in American Art

Birds in American Art

Monday, March, 26, 2018, 7:30 p.m.

Chapel Hill Bird Club

Birds have been the subject of, and the inspiration for, many American artists. I will present an overview of birds in American art from the nineteenth century through today. Artists whose work will be discussed include Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon, Genevieve Estelle Jones, Charles Willson Peale, Titian Ramsay Peale, Winslow Homer, Frank Weston Benson, Marsden Hartley, Charles Burchfield, Walter Inglis Anderson, Andrew Wyeth, Joseph Cornell, Eliot Porter, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Ray Johnson, Robert Adams, Howard Finster, Walton Ford, David Beck, Rachel Berwick, Mark Bradford, Mark Dion, Chris Jordan, Joann Brennan, and Barbara Bosworth.