Solvey Johnsgaard

Grounded in cognitive and evolutionary inquiry that concentrates on recuperative development, I construct tactile diagrams as symbolic visions. What results are fantasy worlds of sensory emulsion and illusory dynamics, as I modulate disintegration and illumination between figures, landscapes, and material composition. I use foraged paper products such as graphic napkins and old picture books, as well as organic materials such as bark and shells as generative tools for associative perception and revision. Sensations of surface and interior become relative through blended collage, printmaking, and painting processes that mimic biological growth structures and encourage close observation.

Solvey Johnsgaard (b. 1989, Whitehorse) grew up in Mt. Lorne, Yukon, as a settler on Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Carcross / Tagish First Nation land. She moved to Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin territory between 2010-11, to attend the School of Visual Art in Dawson, YT. She later completed her BFA in Drawing & Painting at OCAD U in 2017, where she was awarded the Project 31 Drawing & Painting Award for excellence in drawing and painting, and the Eric Freifeld Award for excellence in figure draftsmanship. She has co-curated and participated in multiple group shows in Tkaronto / Toronto, Ontario, and her exhibition history in Whitehorse includes shows with Arts Underground and the Yukon Arts Centre. She currently lives and works in North York, Toronto, on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, Haudenosaunee and the Mississaugas of the Credit River.

Image: soil anamnesis (no. 3 in series of 20), 7” x 9”, 2020.
Materials / process: Oil collagraph & monoprint on graphic book pages
& paper towel, graphic paper napkin, paper towel mâché with acrylic,
sea shells, mounted on cardboard.
Photo credit: Gordon Shean