Ynez Johnston


Frances Ynez Johnston was an American painter, sculptor, printmaker and educator. Her artwork is modernist and abstract with a narrative of imaginative lands or creatures, and often featuring collage. Johnston was based in Los Angeles.

Biography

Johnston was born on May 12, 1920 in Berkeley, California. She attended University of California, Berkeley to study with Worth Ryder and received her bachelor of fine arts in 1941 and her masters of fine arts in 1947. Between 1940–1943, Johnston lived in Mexico after receiving a grant from UC Berkeley, this cultivated an appreciation for travel throughout her life.
In 1960 she married novelist and poet, John Berry. In the years following she produced prints through Tamarind Lithography Workshop.
Johnston started teaching art classes at various universities and colleges in 1950 and ended teaching in 1980. She began at University of California, Berkeley and then continued her teaching career at Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, Chouinard Art Institute, California State College, the University of Jerusalem, and Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design.
Her work is featured in various permanent collections including, Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Spencer Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Fullerton College, and others. She died in 2019.

Awards

Johnston was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952 for fine art, which allowed her travel to Italy. In 1955–1956 she was awarded the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for painting and printmaking. Johnston was awarded the National Endowment for the Art grant in 1976 and 1986.