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Ted Johnston

TED JOHNSTON returned to printmaking in 1998 upon retiring from Canada’s Foreign Service. by recalling the lessons learned at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. during his posting at the Canadian Embassy in the late sixties. “Working in journalism with hot type and ‘on the stone’ always intrigued me. Switching between positive and negative images to create a newspaper was fascinating. The Corcoran experience helped me to discover the artistic side of this process.”

Working from original photographs, he has reproduced scenes from postings and travels in Poland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Turkey, France and other countries as well as from Canada and particularly Ottawa. Two works-in-progress are Ottawa-focussed series: Church Facades and Steeples and The Streets of the City. In 2004, he donated to the Anglican Diocesan Archives a set of more than 60 prints of churches in Canada’s capital. The Ottawa prints include scenes of Centre Town, the Byward Market, Rideau Canal, Elgin Street, Parliament Hill, the Central Experimental Farm and other familiar sights. He has also begun to experiment with current events and portraits of family, friends and animals. Many are familiar with prints as records of bygone scenes or events, before cameras were invented. By selecting contemporary scenes, however, Ted’s prints renew one’s perception of buildings and vistas that are normally lost through every day familiarity.

He has had two solo shows in the Ottawa area: in 2003 at the Gloucester Gallary in Orleans; and, in 2004 at the Atrium Gallery in Nepean. His work was features on the CJOH-TV program Regional Contact in 2003.

Telephone: (613) 748-0346 E-Mail: ej407@ncf.ca

Works by TED JOHNSTON

  • American troops - August 2003
  • American troops - March 2003
  • The Aberdeen Pavillion
    Aberdeen Pavilion sits like a grande dame dressed in yellow and white resting comfortably on a steel frame that encloses 4,000 square metres under a clear span of 41 metres. Built in 1898 as the main agricultural hall of the Central Canada Exhibition in Lansdowne Park, it became more familiarly known as the ‘Cattle Castle’. The pavilion continues to serve amidst the continuing debate over its survival or demolition. (6 x 18 cm)
  • The Byward Market
  • The National Gallery
  • New Edinburg
  • The Peace Tower
  • Five Views of St. Petersburg
    Left to Right:
    The Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul is both a geographic and historic landmark within the Fortress of St. Petersburg. The sharp slender spire was a break from the traditional cupolas of Russian churches. Within the Cathedral's ornate interior are the tombs of Russian tsars.

    The Church of the Resurrection of Christ is also known as the Saviour on the Blood or the Church of Spilled Blood. It was built as a memorial to Alexander II who was assassinated by a bomb on this site in 1881.

    Two Rostral Columns stand on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island which divides the Neva River as it flows out to the Gulf of Finland. They are lit only at New Year's Eve and on May 27, the anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703.

    Smolny Convent Cathedral is a magnificent blue, white and gold edifice that was short-lived as a religious institution. It soon became a school for daughters of the nobility, a home for widows, then the headquarters for the Bolshevik Party.

    The blue and white bell tower of the Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas and the Epiphany overlooks a canal and stands apart from the Cathedral.
  • Warsaw
  • Zamoscz, Poland - The Town Hall
    The Town Hall of Zamoscz, Poland was built between 1591 and 1600 by the Italian architect Bernardo Morando who planned and created a Renaissance town around it; the tower and grand staircase were added later. The square it faces, Pl. Mickiewicka, is described as the most spectacular in all Poland with pastel-coloured arcaded houses on all sides.