About the Artist - A Brief Biography

Kenneth Johnson
Muscogee /Seminole – Bird Clan (FUSWVLKE)

“The metal is a canvas where I can tell a story, expressed in symbols and forms using boldness or subtlety of texture, color, shape and weight. At a glance or a touch a design often elicits the memory of an idea, place or time relative to the wearer.”

Kenneth Johnson [Muscogee/Seminole] is a contemporary Native American designer and accomplished metalsmith working in copper, silver, gold, platinum and palladium. His career spans nearly two decades and is recognized for bold combinations of stampwork and engraving often incorporating coins and bead set gemstones. Signature techniques include original dates of coins visible in the designs, Seminole patchwork patterns, rocker arm engraving and Southeast style concentric line designs.

Examples of Johnson’s design and technical proficiency are often displayed using the canvas of crescent shaped gorgets and wide cuff bracelets. His work is complemented by a constant pursuit of creative innovation in the use of precious metals. His signature style of contemporary jewelry incorporates Southeastern motifs and the melding of old and new methods and techniques. His elaborate and ornate gorgets (multi-tiered crescent shaped necklaces) with ancient “Moundbuilder” symbols and 19th century Seminole patchwork designs overlaid with coins illustrate his propensity for complexity and detail.

Johnson was raised in Oklahoma and currently resides with his wife and 2 children in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the son of Rowena Johnson and grandson of the late Lucinda Walkingstick/Bruner of Oakhurst, Oklahoma. Johnson attended Seneca Indian School, Sequoyah High School and the University of Oklahoma, where he studied mechanical engineering. He began creating jewelry in 1988, when he apprenticed with Choctaw metalsmith Johnson Bobb, who taught him silversmithing—the foundations which he has independently refined into the level of expertise that he is known for today. Johnson integrates state of the art CAD/CAM technology into his design process to forge new “traditions” as an evolving Native metalsmith.

Johnson’s career achievements include the 2005 Santa Fe Indian Market’s “Most Creative Use Of Stampwork” Standards Jewelry award, 2003 Red Earth “Best of Show”, 2003 Creek Council House Museum Featured Artist, 2001 Tulsa Indian Art Festival’s Featured Artist, 1999 Smithsonian Museum/NMAI’s Artist-in-Residence and a 1997 Santa Fe Indian Market Artist Fellowship, among others.

Johnson’s professional service includes judging for the Red Earth Festival and Eight Northern Pueblo’s art competitions and the Lawrence Indian Art Show in Lawrence, Kansas (2006); Hotel Washington Art show organizer, September 2005 for the Smithsonian’s NMAI opening; panelist for NMAI/Smithsonian fellowship selection committee; SWAIA board of directors Co-chair; and Council of Artists chair where he represented the interests of over 1000 artists to that board. Additionally, he served as a panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C. in 2006.

Currently Johnson’s work, most notably an 18k gold, platinum and diamond 3 tiered turtle gorget, is featured in Changing Hands: Art without Reservation 2. The second installment in this exhibition series created by the Museum of Arts & Design, New York, presents approximately 150 works by 90 contemporary Native American artists who are pushing the boundaries and conventions of their own visual tradition. Thematically grouped by content rather than technique or tribe, these works lay the groundwork for an expanded critical history of Native American art.