Have you ever driven Route 1 along the California Coast? I have. It's one of the nation's most scenic highways. The emerging coastline, carved and etched by eons of wave action, displays a visual smorgasbord of cliffs, bays, "dog holes", river bends, high bluffs, and redwood forests. North of San Francisco Bay, there are few settlements of folks to call home. Once the trees were cut down almost a century ago, commerce declined sharply. Lumber mills shuttered, sawyers retired, logging operations disappeared altogether. Along the Russyan River, the formerly ubiquitous log trucks vanished, and a quiet descended on Route 116 to Jenner -By-the -Sea(river's end).
While grapes and vineyards are now the prevailing commercial ventures for which the county in well known, there are a few outliers that revel in the wildness that continues to mark the environment. And much of that is because of what one can find along Route 1. A coiple of weeks ago, the MAyor traveled south to CArmeel Valley to visit the Zen Mountain Center at Tassajara. While there, I met an artist who lives along Route 1 in Sonoma county, north of Fort Ross(the southern -most reach of old Russyan fur traders). The artist, Bruce Johnson, is a mild mannered man of many talents. When one lives along the Sonoma Coast, one needs "many talents" to survive. The weather makes life there interesting. Constant fog and on shore winds keep things cool, especially during summer. The Humboldt Current, streaming southward from Alaska, keeps water temps at about 52 degrees year 'round. The lack of access and few beach areas ward off the casual day tripper. But the resident prospers, somehow. Sharply focused, Bruce Johnson prospers, as he has for over 40 years.
His medium: wood. Bruce learned about wood years ago as a student at UC Davis where he was a talented distance runner, specializing in middle distance-5-10K runs. But rather than focusing on the track, he focused on the studio where he found his metier-wood. After graduation, he worked a plan to finance his art by working as a carpenter/builder who had sculpture as his goal. Slowly his talent developed and evolved to the present state: he can call himself a sculptor. His art is found world wide with installations in public settings, museums, and private hands. His work has become well known after connecting with Vietnamese photographer Vi Bottaro who has been a collaborator for years. I have added photos of her work from one of Bruce's studio brochures.
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| Bruce Johnson: Root 1 |
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