By: Terry FitzSimons

Publication: Tides and Times (Laguna Beach News), May 13, 1982

Artist Johanna Jordan’s chosen medium of sculpture is unique among Laguna artists; she creates sculptures out of sheet aluminum and stainless steel, one of which was installed Tuesday at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art. A multi-positional 10-ft. by 8-ft. piece, it is one of many she has created in the last six years.

She began working with sheet aluminum in 1976, after finding the more traditional sculpting media, such as clay or bronze too cumbersome.

“I found I was intimidated by the weight of the other sculpting materials,” she explained. “You couldn’t work very large without getting involved in tremendous weight. The aluminum affords me the opportunity to work large.”

Jordan studied at the Philadelphia College of Art, where she also taught advertising. She worked for a time in Philadelphia College of Art, where she also taught advertising. She worked for a time in Philadelphia, then moved west to Redlands, California, and took up her first love, sculpting. Jordan also raised her two sons in Redlands.

Moving to Laguna in 1971, she soon had many of her works in local galleries. She has a piece at a Fine Arts Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a commission from Oklahoma State University.

Jordan maintains two studios, one near the Big Bend in Laguna Canyon, and the other at her Emerald Bay home. She fabricates sculptures for gallery shows and templates for larger, outdoor pieces at her Canyon studio.

The basic concept for her pieces begins with a contrast between planes and angles, but often it will go off in an entirely different direction.

“As the first two planes are put together, the piece itself begins to take a form and dictate the next shape,” she remarked.

“My projects meld into one another; some aspect of one I may want to utilize again and carry it further in the next piece. Then something develops from that piece, which I’ll use as the takeoff point for a new one.”

Jordan said working with abstractions gives her a chance to more fully express her feelings.

“I believe abstract art releases your feelings to the degree that you’re not concerned about representing something. You can be more completely true to your feelings because you don’t have to conform to something that is completely realistic and has to be recognized. It’s a more subtle result, removed from the immediate reality.

“My theme is paradox, and I try to incorporate this into my design. One of the qualities I work with is color. Normally, a concave surface appears dark; by painting a concave or receding surface in a light color, I’m almost forcing this receding plane to advance.”

Jordan doesn’t name her pieces, feeling that named sculptures often intimidate people and lead them to think of something other than what the artist intended.

“Once in a while, when we’re referring to a piece with the gallery owners, they’ll say it reminds them of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing; so they’ll call it ‘Fred and Ginger,” she remarked, laughing.

“There are artists who do have a sort of tongue-in-cheek quality, but I don’t seem to work that way. I’m probably too serious. I’m usually concerned with other emotions and elements.”

Once a piece is finished, it has no interest for her, other than as a place to start for the next project.

“Some piece you like better than others. I’ve come to the point where I can let them go, because my main interest is really in the next one I’m going to do. When a piece is finished the excitement has gone; it’s in the construction, the designing of it that I get my joy.

“One of the things you realize as you become more professional is that a given piece cannot incorporate everything you would want it to. You settle for a portion of what you had in mind; you do what you can with each piece.

“Actually, I forget about that when I start working on a piece. The less concerned I am about that sort of thing, the more successful it seems to become.

“Your innate personality is there; it’s something you have no control over. It’s like handwriting-it’s very individual and it comes out just because of you personality. I come out with moods that are indigenous to me; my pieces, when they are finished have a movement to them, a joyful quality”