MIDB Artwork Spotlight: Pine Tree: INFINITY

Created in 2004 by artist Catherine L. Johnson, Pine Tree: INFINITY is now installed at MIDB as part of our permanent art collection.

 

Donated by private collector Dr. Michael and Jane Spencer, the two separate original paintings are positioned vertically as a reflective mirror, an echo, and is presented as a singular painting. The work is an exploration of water, sky, and earth. Each painting measures 53"H x 36"W, with the installation including frame measures 116"H x 46"W.

 

Johnson describes the piece: "the 'anchor' of the tree's trunk is the visual signifier of a center, a spine; the shifting the waves of waters into boughs of a tree signifies breathing: inhale/exhale. The background color was to sound the boundless blue sky of early morning skies when a whisper of lavender within the blue sings a hymn. The paint was mixed with slivers of silver mica – the ambient light sparks the mica like stars in the dark of night. In daytime and in the night the heaven’s stars are ALWAYS shining! Pine Tree: INFINITY offers the sense of awe, wonder, and HOPE."

 

Johnson, who lived at the Shriners Hospital for Children (the site which is now MIDB) from six months to 3 years old (Mayo Clinic from 3 years old onward, as well as Twin City Orthopedic), says having her art installed at MIDB is "a poignant, powerful, and remarkable full circle for me from a child encased in a heavy plaster body cast, stilled in pain, and placed in an institutional crib face down, to a renown artist offering works, visual gospel songs singing WING, BREATH, FREEDOM – transcendence, nationwide."