Low Country artist, Carla Johannesmeyer, was born in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where she gained a deep appreciation of the arts at an early age. Combining her love of art with a natural gift in math, she chose to pursue Architecture at Virginia Tech. She enhanced her architectural education with studio studies in drawing, printmaking, photography, and film.
Although she went on to have a successful career as an architect, environmental design leader, and expert in process improvement, she continually mentally collected images and inspirations to paint. With this diverse background coupled with a love of the arts and a keen eye for composition, light and color, she has immersed herself in painting.
Today, she expresses sublime moments and dreams of a lifetime, telling visual stories and love of nature within the depth of each painting. A friend once commented,“ You can almost hear the melody in her paintings”.
Johannesmeyer’s oil paintings are reminiscent of postimpressionists but border on expressionism. There is a lyrical quality to her work. She prefers a large brush relative to the size of the canvas, and paints with visible confident brush strokes of layering lush color to evoke light, shadow, and reflections in her landscape, architectural, still life, and figurative subjects.
Her style is uniquely her own.
Her work is collected throughout the United States and Canada.
- ArtFields 2016
- City of Charleston Waterfront Gallery Piccolo Spoleto Juried Art Show 2015
- Charleston Artist Guild People’s Choice First Place 2014
- ArtFields 2014
- Gibbes Art Museum Renovation Celebration Exhibit 2014
- Garden of Dreams Exhibition and National Competion; Award of Merit 2013
- Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
- Charleston Artist Guild Member and Juried Artist 2013
Artist Statement:
From the Artist:
Much of my inspiration comes from visiting wilderness areas from barrier islands and waterways of the low country coastal environment to the eastern mountains and high plains of the southwest. These untamed landscapes provide a wonderful backdrop to study light, shadow and reflection. I have a deep affinity to those places requiring just a little extra effort to find and then capturing the wildness and splendor in my paintings. My compositions highlight natural edges, nodes, and visual pathways. I want to challenge the viewer to wonder what lies around the corner, down the path, through the bramble and to hear the surf and rustle of leaves from seaward breezes or the gently lap of a wave as boat travels by. My wildscapes are interwoven with the tracery of gently swaying palmetto frond and their shadows as light bounces thru the understory below. A wayward branch becomes a punctuation mark on a seemingly tame path or a wild flower becomes a not so still close up of light and shadow.
In contrast to my wildscapes, I am also drawn to architectural facades and interiors, some with figurative placement that evokes the viewer to question what lies beyond the presented view, around the corner, or through the door. My style is an emboldened and evolving painterly style, evoking a dance of light thru shadows and reflection, using full brush strokes and layered color to move the eye through the painting. Paintings begin as a play of softened unfettered geometry and kaleidoscope mirrors of color and light repeating patterns found in both our natural and manmade worlds. My artistic talent and eye for appreciating the splendors of this world is truly a gift for which I am blessed beyond measure.