Hidden Gems: Meet Nathan Johansen of Johansen Studios

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Johansen.

Hi Nathan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Perhaps this statement from his files would be helpful:
“Nathan Johansen looks to nature for the forms he uses in his work. Plants with their seeds, in all their various stages of development, are rich in symbols and patterns that repeat in all life. His deep sensitivity to the natural world is embodied in his depictions of the cycles of plants and seeds, birds, insects and all of their relationship to mankind.
A lifelong resident of Utah, Nathan graduated with a BA in Fine Art from BYU. Nate has worked in the Art Casting field for over 30 years, coordinating Fine Art Casting at Metal Arts Foundry in Lehi, Utah.
He is now working as Johansen Studios, producing his own art full time.”

As the child of an artist, Nate was exposed at an early age to fine art, artistic processes as well as extensive exposure to the outdoors and nature in all it’s glory.

While working for the foundry provided a steady income for his family, he had to relegate art and sculpting to a part-time place in his life. He stayed relevant, producing a piece or two a year that he could exhibit in local and regional shows.
For 20 years now, he has been involved in sculpture lease programs throughout Utah, Sioux Falls and throughout the midwest as well as in Colorado and New Mexico. Generally, how this works, is that you submit a proposal or an application to a city or arts program and hope to be selected for inclusion in their show, which is usually for a year or sometimes 2 years. They generally will pay an artist stipend to keep your piece in their city for that time period and to help offset the cost of travel/installation.
In January of this year, Nate retired from work at the foundry and is now working full time on his own art as Johansen Studios. He currently has 16 pieces in 14 cities with this type of annual/biannual show.
Nate has permanent installations of his sculptures in Salt Lake City (3), Moab, South Jordan, Park City and Logan, Utah; in Sioux Falls, SD; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Red Wing, Minnesota; Farmington, New Mexico and Suwon, South Korea.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Working full time at the Foundry, while providing for the family and exposure to other artists and a wide variety of current art, meant limited time to spend on personal artwork. Nate has always been very busy with volunteer work with our congregation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This has brought fulfilling and meaningful interactions to our lives, but that too has limited his time to do his personal artwork. For the limited amount of time that Nate committed to his art over the past 30 years he has actually seen an astonishing amount of success. So in spite of “obstacles” to his time, he’s still been able to produce beautiful, high quality art work.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Johansen Studios?
Nate has been producing Fine Art through Johansen Studios, his own sculpture studio, for over 45 years. He and his wife Betsy, a mold maker for bronze sculpture reproduction, have together run the studio, growing it to enable sculpture production and managing the ongoing submissions for and installations of public art.
Nate now produces sculpture full time for display in ongoing outdoor shows as well as purchase for municipalities, arts programs and private collections.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Nate enjoys books and podcasts about rocks, fossils, outdoor adventure, natural phenomenon, and personal journeys.

Because his work is so exploratory of the natural world and the way in relates to is as humans, all of these things are inspirational to him.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://johansenstudios.weebly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johansenstudios/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johansenstudios