Dexter Johnson

Interviewing Dexter Johnson is like being in the eye of a hurricane, barraged from all sides with info bytes zooming top speed through the air at a constant rate. Mix this in with a ringing phone, visitors knocking at the door, a calendar full of engagements, and enough art to fill a small country and you get the idea.

The staggering fact is that she turned 90 years old May 21st and doesn’t waste a minute of her time. Is it her super health food regimen? Her unquenchable thirst for knowledge of her ever-inquisitive mind? Or is it just that her attitude is so positive if there was a flood she’d do the back float and wash her clothes? This self-admitted people person doesn’t spend a moment “pondering” that question. Instead she luxuriates in her personal fountain of youth till she tires out the rest of us mere mortals.

“I started drawing with a stick in the sand as a very young child before using a pencil,” she recalls. Art captured her like a magnetic force before she was able to walk. She loves to do impressionistic portraits using pastels and oils. Dexter feels strongly about her mentors: Heinz Warnecke, who she studied sculpting with; William Schultz, her first painting teacher who influenced her “impressionistically; Robert Brackman, once listed in Encyclopedia Britannica as “the greatest living pastel artist.” She raves about Frits van Eeden. “I wish I could paint from the mind like he does. And he knows his animal forms: no one does it better.” She praises Ellen Plankey, Tom Parker, Pat Joslin, Mona Jordan, Margot Gray, Dorothy Sweeney. Their works cover her walls, shelves, tables, and cabinets. She adores Monet and Renoir.

Asked what the public likes, ”Mostly, people want to see something they UNDERSTAND at their own level of understanding. If they don’t understand it, they don't like it." She feels faith and spirituality play an important role in art too. "The cathedral art is extraordinary," citing a visit to one in Mexico as a case in point. Is everything art?

"You can take an old pair of shoes and make a beautiful painting out of it. Alleys are fascinating to paint, with their jagged stairs and passageways. ANYTHING can be art."

It is noteworthy that a watercolor painting of Johnson's ancestors hangs on the wall of Mary Warnick's studio at the Strawbridge Art League, of which Dexter is one of the original members. It is a 1920 picture of the "Trail" family, her maiden surname she uses before Johnson when she writes poetry. They are enjoying a picnic at Cocoa Beach with their automobile parked nearby on the sand. In fact, her ancestors lived in Rockledge. The painting, aptly named "Happy Trails," can be seen in the Watercolors of Olde Brevard II book sold at SAL's office.

Dexter is a long-time poet and has won 1st Place and Best of Show in this pursuit. A former member of the Space Coast Poetry Club, recently her poem “Esmeralda” was accepted into the upcoming “Florida Florida Florida” show opening this November at Henegar. Her art is in private collections and can be seen at Club Esteem in Melbourne. Dexter should stand for DEXTERITY!

It is amazing how little Dexter uses the word “I”. Her conversation is peppered with the words and deeds of others. She remains seemingly unaware of her own existence. Indeed, she IS a people person in the truest sense.

Written by Siri German