Claudia Johns

My artwork is for sale here and at


i paint because of a deeply rooted desire to create something that expresses
deep emotion. A retrospection of loving, giving, risking, suffering.
Painting allows me to relax, daydream, escape from the demands of family
and work. It is my retreat, my sanctuary.
I was born into a very creative and emotionally charged family.
Santiago, Chile is my birthplace. My family is made up of painters,
dancers, opera singers. It was the natural thing to do, to dance and paint. I
came to the USA in 1972 at the age of 9 when my mother, fearing the
inevitable military takeover of the Augusto Pinochet regime, sent my
brother, sister and I to Seattle to live with a distant aunt. We were to be
here six months, until things settled down in Chile. We never went back.
We were raised in a mystical, enigmatic household, my mother and
great grandmother always alluding to a spiritual world not bound by any
religion, connecting us in life and death.
I paint women that breathe and feel and suffer and love. I try to
capture the inner pictures of their souls, their journey ... and I try to
convey an overall sense of a deeper notion. These paintings evolve on their
own, with their own expression. I usually...

University of North Carolina School of the Arts '80

University of Washington
Dance/Art