Charmian Johnson - Catriona Jeffries

Charmian Johnson (b. 1939, Pouce Coupe, Canada, d. 2020, Vancouver, Canada) was an artist and educator who lived and worked in Vancouver. Since the 1970s, Johnson has been highly regarded across local and international ceramic communities. She developed a distinct style within the Leachian tradition, having spent a number of years at Bernard Leach’s pottery studio in St. Ives, cataloging and archiving the Leach collection. Throughout her lifetime, she maintained a meticulous drawing practice that she kept largely to herself. Rendering botanical elements encountered in her own garden as well as on her travels to Morocco, Turkey, Hawaii and France, Johnson developed her drawings over time, sometimes for months or even years.

Johnson studied drawing, graphics and pottery at the University of British Columbia. Her significant solo exhibitions include Catriona Jeffries (2021); Vancouver Art Gallery (1989); and UBC Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver (1985). Her pottery and works on paper have been included in numerous group exhibitions across Canada, including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Museum of Anthropology at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver; Burnaby Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Canadian Glass and Clay Gallery, Waterloo; Glenbow Museum, Calgary; Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa; and in Thrown: Influences and Intentions of West Coast Ceramics, at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2004), which she co-curated.