Artist Statement: My name is Stephen T. Johnson and thanks to my drawing students, I have inherited the acronym STJ. And I liked it. So, I now use my acronym to define the 3 pillars of my creative framework – Subject, Transformation and Joy! The transformation of the subject into a physical reality (paintings, collage, mosaics, sculpture), the joy I receive in the process of making, plus the joy my work may bring to the viewer through my children’s books, public art and gallery and museum exhibitions. 

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About: Stephen T. Johnson’s visually arresting and conceptually rich body of work forges connections between words, objects and ideas.  His art spans a broad range of concepts and contexts and can be seen in site-specific public art commissions, gallery and museum exhibitions, and original award-winning children’s books such “Alphabet City,” a Caldecott Honor and a New York Times Best Illustrated book of the year.  

His drawings and paintings are in numerous private collections including those of musician Paul Simon and actress Cherry Jones, and in the permanent collections of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut, and the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.  

Among his public art is a 66-foot mosaic mural at the DeKalb Avenue Subway Station in Brooklyn New York, a 58-foot mosaic mural at the Universal City/Studio City Metro Station in Los Angeles, California, and 33 glass panels for the Dallas Love Field Airport, in Dallas, Texas.