DLD| Kat Johnnson| Ep 82

A native of Los Angeles, Kat Johnson says her first trips to the desert in the 1970's were inspired by the desert sounds of The Eagles. She wouldn't come back again until six years ago at the suggestion of a then boyfriend. Kat wasn't really excited about a trip to the desert, but the vacation rental close to the park sealed the deal - Kat wanted to continue to commune with the wildlife, particularly the desert cottontails who made their presence known each morning of her stay. And seriously, if you've seen them, who can resist? From that moment on, Kat was on a mission to find a place in the Hi-Desert and live Los Angeles behind. The process took about three years of weekend trips and later, weekday visits to tour homes that had recently been put on the market. In this episode, Kat talks about her assemblage art pieces and her process of locating anchor pieces for them both before and after eBay, as well as her fascination with 'lucky'. Some of those objects are also tattoos and Kat was hard-pressed to point out any favorites - hard to do when you have over 25 of them. She also talks about the responsibilities of being a Gallery Director, a role she stepped into the last two years at Gallery 62 in Joshua Tree. Having run creative departments for large ad agencies, Kat loved the idea of being in charge and bringing projects to fruition again. Now that her two year run is almost up, she's amping up her own art work and putting some shows on her calendar for 2020. In the meantime, she's preparing for the May 2019 show at Gallery 62 which will feature student art, along with a silent auction fundraiser for the Gallery 62 Art Student Scholarships to be presented to select Morongo Basin student artists pursuing a career in art after high school. Rather than feeling like she's in a line at Disneyland, given the popularity and over use of some of the parks more accessible trails, Kat prefers 'off trail' hikes, allowing her to really be one and at be peace with nature. https://www.artsy.net/artist/kat-johnson