Barbara W. Johnson

All my life I have been fascinated by interfaces between things, the living and non-living, skylines. The world - the forms of life, the shapes and shadows of the inanimate – these are my inspirations for scarf designs. Around the studio in the field, in my work, and in my mind, are the plants, the ground, and the animals that make up the shapes and colors on my scarves. I try to balance the scientific inquiry of my job as an arbovirologist with artistic expression through painting and dyeing, and silk is my medium.

I live along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the silkscapes of my scarves are inspired by the everyday landscapes – and skyscapes - around me. I love to see how a two-dimensional painted silkscape gains dimension as it is wrapped around someone. For this reason, I focus on scarves. The Dharma habotai, crepe de chine, and chiffon fabrics are my favorites, and I have lately been experimenting with the wool silk. Each has a different texture and way of taking the dye. I use the Dharma procion fiber reactive dyes, layering the color on as in watercolor painting. My palette always includes marigold, chartreuse, cerulean blue, and olive drab as I know these dyes will react well with any other color. Terracotta and pomegranate are favorite warm reds. I use water to shade and tone the dyes and to move the color around, creating shapes with water margins. I studied classical batik so I also incorporate wax resist applied with tjantings or brushes. I was thrilled when Dharma introduced water-soluble soy wax. After steaming, I wash the scarves in the washing machine with hot water and Milsoft fabric softener to give them the silky hand.