Brian Johnston spent forty years as a fine woodworker in New York City and later in the Hudson Valley. His work has appeared in Interiors and Architectural Digest. Six years ago, he advanced his understanding of wood from furniture to sculpture. Born in Ireland and raised with the belief that there is a spirituality to the forest, a place inhabited by the unseen, he pursued this thought in his work. Troubled by climate change and human mismanagement of the natural world, he worked with the idea that there is more going on in the forest than mere growth; and that there may be a sensibility and an otherworldly intelligence to that woodland quiet. The Druids worshiped in sacred oak groves, believing that humans were formed by the gods from trees. His earlier sculptures reflect these beliefs. Johnston has realized in these totems the visual stimulus to help the viewer tap into that deep, ancestral past, and hopefully, to reconsider their relationship with trees, and by extension, the forest, and greater environment beyond.

Johnston’s recent pieces are constructed with found metal scraps and parts of old farm equipment. What had been discarded is reworked and combined in ways that give new life to these old parts. An old hand plow is now a man on a unicycle. A rusty hay grip becomes the center of a crucifix concerning climate change. Understanding how to fill an empty space with meaning has been a complex journey of education and enjoyment. Whimsy often contains a more serious message.

Johnston’s newest series is called Landscapes. While these pieces may function as furniture, they also convey the woodland spirit and values of his earlier work. From “Landslide” to “Twin Falls,” each piece represents an idea of landscape and suggests a moment in nature that one can enjoy and use.