Johanna Dozer
Johanna Dozer was born in Phoenix, Arizona but was not raised as the typical city kid. My parents believed that a well rounded education was important as well as touching the earth. And these lessons would follow me through life along with the duplicity that followed.
I grew up in the city enjoying the culture Phoenix had to offer while raising sheep in the orange orchard. I learned about life from the animals and trees.
After spending a couple of years at school in Ohio, I finished my Bachelor of Art degree at the University of Arizona, photography being my main focus. I moved to Connecticut shortly after school where I opened a photography studio. While my artwork was developing, advertising work taught me to watch the details. I received validation from the art community as my work was accepted and judged in gallery art showings, grants, and positive press through the media. My work was looking for a balance between nature and the human form. Even though I enjoyed the lush greenery, rolling hills and vivid colors of the seasons, I felt a pull back to Arizona and the open boldness of the desert.
Returning home, I actually did come back to the sheep and citrus in the city. And here I found glass. The fluidity of glass has captured my spirit. Simplicity of glass verses the complexity of blowing, the ability to create the details through the whole fulfilled me. Glass is the embodiment of elements of complexity that have been in my life since childhood.
I still believe it is important in life and art to "touch the earth". To be reminded of the balance between self and nature. At the core of my work, I use designs and patterns found in nature. No matter what medium I work in, the concept of touching nature seems to remain constant.
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