Meet Roger Hayden Johnson and his daughter Anna Elise Johnson June 21 2025, 0 Comments
By Kimberly Nicoletti
The effects of color and light have always attracted artist Roger Hayden Johnson. So it’s no wonder he passed on his love for dramatic light and contrasts to his daughter, Anna Elise Johnson. The two artists meet at Raitman Art Galleries in Vail July 5 for a special father-daughter show.
Roger Hayden Johnson is perhaps best known for his depictions of European skiffs. The simple boats, which he paints with great mastery, portray how they have been built, maintained and repaired throughout a lifetime. He believes that the older the wooden vessels are, the more interest they convey.
“The wooden ones definitely communicate a history of life on the water,” he says.
His new works join 10 of his daughter’s pieces in Vail through mid-July.
Some of his latest paintings capture boats placidly floating in the moonlight, as opposed to daylight. Either way, they evoke a profound and intriguing stillness.
“I believe it is the light that first draws people to his artwork. It is unmistakably beautifully painted, so much so that people occasionally question if his paintings are paintings at all, wondering, instead, if they are photographs,” Brian Raitman says. “Perhaps my favorite aspect of his paintings is the peace that his works depict. They feel like a deep breath, a place to rest one’s eyes and find calm no matter what may be going on in life at the moment.”
One of Johnson’s paintings always hangs across from Brian and his wife’s bed, helping them fall asleep and influencing their dreams.
“They take us to some magical place where time seemingly stands still, and we can be at rest,” he says.
Meanwhile, Anna Elise Johnson’s art explores the interconnection between humans and the landscape, including how we impact geology.
She begins by soaking canvas in water and pressing it over rocks. As she pours fabric dyes over the rocks, color flows and pools, moving in ways that mimic the natural movement of water and wind. Afterward, she applies acrylic paint, and then stretches the canvas flat, creating a striking depth within the piece.
Her dad was her primary art teacher; her high school even granted advanced placement credit for studying with him. He taught her to brainstorm, to creatively think about and push ideas to recreate landscapes she witnesses. Watching him paint during sunrises and sunsets honed her attention to light, color, contrasts and detail.
“He’s definitely my main role model and confidant,” she says. “Having a show with him is so special — to be able to highlight that relationship and all that I’ve learned from him aesthetically and philosophically.”
Desert landscapes between her Los Angeles home and her parent’s home in Colorado Springs inspired the series she’s showing in Vail. For instance, some of her paintings capture light, shadows and color reflected in snow while also displaying, through her process, how paint can operate in a manner similar to the way geology forms.
“It shows the connection between actual landscape and planetary forces and the paint material itself — how they can operate together and how it can be quite different than traditional ways of working, (while pushing) art history forward,” she says.
Within their various styles, both father and daughter highlight the influences of time and human development. Her work grapples with the psychological and aesthetic impacts of living in this current geological era, while his paintings showcase simple, workingman’s wooden boats, which, these days, are increasingly being replaced by commercial, fiberglass versions.
Through their striking work, both artists invite viewers to pause and contemplate time and nature from rich perspectives.
