Karen S. Johnston 1945 – 2017

The artwork of Karen Johnston is featured in the Holy Cross Gallery. The gallery, located at 150 Melrose Avenue, is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and during services. The show will run through the end of February.

Karen Johnston’s artistic journey took many paths. Among those paths were fabric creations, from doll clothes to her wedding gown to teddy bears. Her love of creating floral arrangements and interior design led her to a redesign business focusing on the art of Feng Shui. After retiring to Tryon, she became interested in painting and began taking classes. This new path evolved over the years, beginning in watercolor but soon expanding to oil, pastel, encaustic, and mixed media. Johnston continued to take classes and workshops from well-known artists to broaden her spectrum of media and painted regularly with friends. Her subjects ranged from still life and landscapes to abstract expressionism.

Born in Pennsylvania, she received a B.A. from Marshall University, Huntington, W. Va., and taught special education. She also worked with visually impaired and blind infants while living in Lexington, Ky. She lived most of her adult life in the Southeast. Her work has been accepted and awarded in a number of juried art shows.

Proceeds from this show will be donated to the Karen Johnston Education Fund, administered by Tryon Painters and Sculptors (TPS) which provides art instruction to children and youth through in-class projects as well as workshops during holiday and summer breaks.

– submitted by Gregory Wright