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FACULTY ART EXHIBIT: Assistant Art Professor Peter Johnson's display is called hy•pos•ta•sis. (The Observer/JEFF PETERSEN).

Jeff Petersen

Staff Writer

Just as a huge earthquake and tsunami can turn the earth on its axis, so life takes all sorts of seismic — and subtle — twists.

The seismic twist for Peter Johnson was going from a possible career in medicine to the arts.

The assistant professor at Eastern Oregon University's display, called hy•pos•ta•sis, is part of the faculty art exhibit opening with a reception Saturday at Nightingale Gallery in Loso Hall.

Johnson, 29, earned his undergraduate degree in environmental science. He had his sights set on medical school.

But then life, as it is wont to do, threw him a surprise. Art came calling.

And today the knowledge gained in chemistry, anatomy and other extremely taxing classes pays dividends by subtly and not to subtly influencing his ceramic creations.

"My work springs out of the tradition of the vessel," Johnson says in his artist statement. "But it departs from the idea of function, toward the metaphor of containment. ... I am intrigued by the paradox of a vessel being used for both containment and for ‘pouring out' as it relates to the human action of being both filled and emptied."

When the job opened at EOU — longtime art professor Tom Dimond had retired — Johnson leaped at the opportunity. Today he is an assistant professor. He teaches everything from Art 101 Foundations in Visual Literacy to third year 3D design principles and advanced ceramics.

Johnson earned his bachelor of science degree from Wheaton College in Illinois and his master of fine arts from Penn State University. Last year he was a visiting artist/instructor at Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary.

Up north.

Living there, plus in such burgs as Chicago, Houston and Asheville, N.C., made coming to little La Grande a big adjustment.

"But I love the mountains and the natural beauty here," Johnson says. "You take a walk in the woods, and it gives you time to think."

Johnson splits his time between teaching and working weekends in a 2,500-square-foot studio that he shares with EOU faculty member Doug Kaigler on Cove Avenue.

Johnson says a strength of the EOU art program is that all of the faculty are not just fountains of knowledge but artists. They're pursuing their own artistic goals and have to "practice what they preach," he says. "They have art gallery connections, are trying to get published" and can pass along these practical skills to students.

Despite his young age, Johnson has lived in all sorts of places. He tells students, some older than he is, that "your inspiration should come from your life and your life experiences. As you mature, you develop a better filter and means of processing those experiences."

Introspection is very important for an artist, Johnson says.

And so is whatever life experiences you have.

The subtle twist for Johnson is that those doubly difficult science classes are beginning to pay dividends.

"I think as I get older," Johnson says, "some of those clinical ideas are starting to filter into my work."