Collection Information
Size: 1.5 Linear feet
Summary: Papers of sculptor Patricia Johanson include professional and personal correspondence, 1967-1998; writings on public art, articles, and reviews; a transcript of an interview of Johanson conducted by Jan Evans; a copy of a Master's thesis written on Johanson's sculpture; clippings, exhibition catalogs and announcements; and photographs of Johanson and her work. The collection measures 1.5 linear feet and dates from 1964 to 1998.
Biographical/Historical Note
Patricia Johanson, born in 1940, is an environmental sculptor and architect who creates large scale public works to solve environmental problems and create habitat and public recreational space. She graduated from Bennington College in 1962 and earned an M.A. in art history at Hunter College (1964). Johanson took civil engineering classes at New York's City College School of Architecture, earning a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1977. Inspired by the enormous canvases of the Abstract Expressionists, Johanson created huge sculptures such as Stephen Long (1968) which went beyond the field of vision and interacted with the environment. Johanson designed sculpture for Con Edison's Indian Point Nuclear Generating Plant (1972), the Whitney Colleges at Yale University (1972), and Columbus East High School, Columbus, Indiana (1973). Her architectural projects include Fair Park Lagoon in Dallas, Texas (1981-1982), Tidal Sculpture Garden for Pelham Bay Park in New York (1984), and the San Fransisco baywalk which transformed a new sewer into a public amenity and work of art. Her Park for the Amazon Rainforest (1992), commissioned for the Earth Summit, is an environmental sculpture that provides access from ground level up through the forest canopy along the Amazon River near Obidos, Brazil. Johanson's more recent projects include a master plan and ecological playgrounds for Ulsan Dragon Park (1996), a 912-acre site in South Korea, and the Rocky Marciano Trail and Salisbury River Greenway in Brockton, Massachusetts. Her husband is art historian Eugene C. Goossen.
Provenance
Patricia Johanson donated her papers in 1975, 1983, 1989, 1997, and 1998.