I am an artist and cultural worker from India, who has lived and worked in the Chicago area for over twenty years while maintaining close ties with India. The influences of my mother, a social activist and my father, an artist and a follower of Gandhi have been predominant in my life and art, where I continue to deal with the same issues that have preoccupied me for the last two decades - the growth towards a spiritual existence as an individual and as part of the human continuum.
Much of my inspiration comes from transitory, ritualistic Indian folk art practices which I've used to address issues of labor, domestic violence, nonviolence and health education, adapting them to operate within contemporary experiences thus evolving a hybrid version of the original traditions. As a result, my work has always been informed by my experience of life in both, the US and India.
The process of spiritual growth has been an ongoing preoccupation for me, especially as it relates to working in the community. I have found that in the search for a personal truth one discovers universal truths that bind us to each other to the past and to future generations.
EDUCATION
1970-72Folk Universitet, Lund, Sweden.
1965-67Masters of Fine Art. School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, IL.
1960-64Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art. Bombay, India.
1960-64Bachelor of Arts. University of Bombay. Bombay, India.
GRANTS/AWARDS
2001 Illinois Arts Council Visual Arts Award
1997 Visual Artist, Governor’s Award for the Arts
1993 Arts International Travelling Fellowship.
1992 Kohler Company, Arts and Industry Grant, Sheboygan, WI.
1991/92 Illinois Arts Council. Visual Arts Award.
1990 Virginia Groot Foundation
1989/90Arts Midwest Visual Artists Award
1988/89Illinois Arts Council Visual Arts Award
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Asian American Art Centre, New York ♦ NY Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art ♦ Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile AL ♦ State of Illinois Building, Chicago, IL. ♦ Peace Museum, Chicago, IL ♦ College of Dupage. Dupage, IL. ♦ Arkansas Arts Center, Decorative Arts Museum. Little Rock, AR. ♦ University of Illinois Law School. Carbondale, IL. ♦ High Museum of Art. Atlanta, GA. ♦ Air India Corporation. Bombay, India. ♦ Kohler Company, Sheboygan, WI. ♦ Garden/Varelli, Bombay India.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITION
2009Opposition and Unity, Parkland College Gallery, Champaign, IL
Conversations: Here and Now, City of Evanston Public Art Commission, Evanston, IL
2008Lifetime Offer, Dimensions Variable, Outdoor installation, Highland Park Art Center,
Highland Park, IL
Satyagraha; Holding fast to Truth, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL
2007Lifetime Offer, Dimensions Variable, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Il
Where Sky Meets Water, Chicago River, City of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Indira Freitas Johnson, New Work, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006Indira Freitas Johnson; A Merging of Two Cultures,
Contemporary Arts Center, Peoria, IL
2004Transforming Materials; Uniting the Physical and the Spiritual.
Illinois Weslyan University, Bloomington, IL
Indira Freitas Johnson, New Work, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003Enough; Indira Freitas Johnson and Voices from around the World,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL.
2001FREENOTFREE, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
Process of Karma, Indianapolis Art Center Indianapolis IN.
Indira Freitas Johnson, Death and Rebirth, Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago,
Indira Freitas Johnson, Process of Karma, MC Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Indira Freitas Johnson, New Work” Clarion University of Pennsylvania, PA.
Vehicles of Transformation; Art Works by Indira Freitas Johnson” Chicago
Cultural Center. Chicago, IL.
1992“Indira Freitas Johnson: Storm Shelters and Other Works”: Evanston Arts Center, Evanston, IL.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2009Infinite Mirror Art Train, National Travelling Exhibition
Erasing Borders, Indo American Arts Center, New York, NY
Without Borders, Evanston Art Center, Evans
2007Upon An Ether Sea, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.
25ththAnniversary Exhibition, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006Life InSight; The Human Experience, Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, Louisville, KY
Poetic Expression of Mortality: Figurative Ceramics from the Porter Price Collection,
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile AL
2005Fatal Love, The Queens Museum, Queens, New York.
Particles and Passion:the Art of Clay. Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
2004 Honoring Tradition, Perceptions of Three Asian American Artists. Ball State Museum,
Muncie, IN
Masala, Diversity and Democracy in South Asian Art. William Benton Museum of Art,
University of Conecticut, Storrs.
2003 Women Alive! A legacy of Social Justice, Archeworks, Chicago, IL
2002 Uniting the Community for Peace; temporary installation, Field Museum of Chicago
The Good Earth, Contemporary Textile Art in India, St. Marie Aux Mines, France
The Virginia A. Groot Foundation Exhibition, SOFA, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL.
Made From Scratch, The Chicago Athaneum, Chicago, IL
2001 Pedagogy: Beyond Reeling, Writhing, Uglification and Derision. Columbia College
Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL.
Voices of Shakti;, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Art of the Spirit, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburg, PA.
Voices of Shakti, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, College of St.Catherine,St. Paul.
Poetic and Narrative Expressions, Lakeview Museum, Peoria, IL
Looking In the Mirror: Aspects of Figurative Ceramics, Riley Hawk Gallery, Columbus,OH
Spiritual Passports/Transformative Journeys, State of Illinois Art Gallery, Chicago, IL.
1998Politically Direct, Mclean County Arts Center, Bloomington, IL
Text and Territory: Navigating through Immigration and Dislocation, University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL.
Five Perspectives-Clay, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA.
Viewpoint: Art as Message, Craft Alliance Gallery, St. Louis, MO.
1996Art in Chicago; 1945-1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL.
Labor of Love. New Museum of Art, New York, New York.
Voices of Shakti; Pain Struggle, Courage, Collaboration between women from Apna Ghar
(Shelter for Abused Women) and Indira Johnson. Artemisia Gallery and Beacon Street Gallery, Chicago, Weslyan University, Bloomington,IL.
Cast of Character, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheyboygan, WI.
1995Exploring A Movement: Feminist Visions in Clay. LaBand Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount
University, Los Angeles, CA.1994
“Valuable Offer” Installation at SOFA (Sculpture and Functional Objects) Sponsored by Esther
Saks Fine Art Ltd. Chicago, IL.
NCECA Invitational Exhibition-Émigrés: Cultural References in Contemporary Clay”
New Orleans Museum of Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA.
1993“Material Departures; Tradition and Change” State of Illinois Gallery, Chicago IL.
“Double Vision” Collaborative exhibition with S.H.A.R.E. (Support the Handicappeds’
Rehabilitation Effort), Cooraswami Gallery, Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, India.
1992Ceramic Sculpture: Form + Figure, Society for Art in Crafts. Pittsburgh, PA.
“Women’s’ Work: Visual Language in Transition” Esther Saks Gallery, Chicago.
SELECTED LECTURES/ PANEL DISCUSSIONS
2004Art and Nonviolence, Christian Brothers University, Memphis TN
Keynote speaker, School of Continuing Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
2003Art and Nonviolence, Pioneers for Social Justice, Archeworks, Chicago, IL
New Dimensions; Five Views, SOFA Exposition, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL.
Affirming Feminist Identity Through Art and Religion, Panel Discussion, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Chicago.
Face To Face: Portraits of the Self by Women Artists, The Art Institute of Chicago.
Keynote speaker, “Drawing Art Together,” Sponsored by Getty Center for Education.
1992“Daughters of Revolution: Gender, Ethnicity, Art”: Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, OH.
RESIDENCIES
1998-04,SHARE (Support the Handicapped’s Rehabilitation Effort), Golibar, India,
1994SEWA Milthila, Bihar, India
1992Kohler Factory, Kohler, WI.
1989Lakeside Studio
BOARD AFFILIATIONS
Shanti Foundation for Peace
Marketplace; Handwork of India
Advisory Board, Womanmade Gallery
Represented by Walsh Gallery,118 N. Peoria Street, 2nd floor Chicago, IL 60607
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