Beth Ross Johnson is a weaver, teacher and workshop leader living in Black Mountain,  North Carolina.  She grew up in Charleston, South Carolina and when she became interested in weaving and textile arts, learned initially from students from Norman Kennedy, later studying with him for many workshops.  A lifelong fascination with Asian art led to an interest in Japanese textiles and she has had two extensive stays in Japan to study kasuri (ikat weaving and dyeing) and sakiori (rag weaving) with master weavers there. Other avenues of exploration have been sashiko stitching and nyoho-e (Zen stitching). Recent studies have been in the ikat traditions of Europe, influenced by the 18th century wave of Orientalism on the continent, and woven structures like sashiko-ori and kasuri-ori that mimc hand stitching and ikat processes.  The craft schools, weather, and music compelled a move to western North Carolina in 1980 where she has worked a number of arts related jobs (including in environmental and craft preservation in Cherokee) while maintaining a studio and teaching in formal and informal institutions.

Bio

,Beth Ross Johnson

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Academic Teaching (Weaving, textiles, art, art history)

  • Appalachian State University, Adjunct Instructor, Visiting Instructor, Spring 2022-Fall 2023

  • Warren Wilson College, Adjunct Instructor, Fall 2022

  • Western Carolina University, Visiting Instructor 1992-2013, Affiliate Professor

  • Southwestern Community College,  Visiting Instructor, 2002-2013

  • Georgia State University, Part Time Instructor, Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2003-07 

Workshops / Presentations (Weaving, stitching, textile history)

  • North House Folk School, Grand Marais MN, 2024

  • Western NC Fiber/Handweaving Guild, 2024

  • Greater Vancouver Handweavers’ Guild, online presentation, 2023

  • Studio Tour and Presentation, online, Handweavers’ Guild of America, 2023

  • Yadkin Valley Fiber Center, Elkin, NC, 2023

  • Textile History Forum, Marshfield VT, 2023

  • Mid Atlantic Fiber Association Conference, Millersville PA 2023

  • Weaving History Conference, online 2022

  • Complex Weavers Seminars, Knoxville TN, 2022

  • Penland School of Crafts Spring Concentrations, Penland, NC - 1987, 2007, 2012, Fall session 2014, Summer session 2021, visiting instructor 2022

  • John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown, NC, Regular workshop leader in Weaving, 1983-present, Mentorship Program 2020, Online classes 2020-2023

  • Warren Wilson College Weaving Crew

  • Textile Study Group, Asheville NC, coordinator, presenter

  • Workshop Leader, Guild presenter, nationally 1985 - present

  • Haywood Community College, Cont. Ed.

  • Southwestern Community College Cont. Ed.

  • The NC Arboretum, online and in person

  • Growing Color: Natural Dyes from Plants Symposium The NC Arboretum presenter and organizer

Arts Related Work Experience 

• Adult Education Coordinator, NC Arboretum, Asheville, NC

• Craft Development Specialist, Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources, Cherokee

  • Chelsea Gallery director, Lectures, Concerts & Exhibitions coordinator, Western Carolina University

  • Artist in the Schools, Resident artist, Arts in Prisons, Craft Development Program, Work with SC Arts Commission, NC Arts Council

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EDUCATION

• Post graduate study, East Carolina University, Western Carolina University

Anthropology, Native American Studies, Climate Change

• MFA in Textiles, Georgia State University, 2006

• MA in Fibers, Western Carolina University 

• BA in Art, Charleston Southern University

Sophomore year at NC School of the Arts, Dance major

Workshops/Internships/Apprenticeships

  • Natural Dye workshops with Donna Brown, Michel Garcia, Catharine Ellis, Elizabeth Johnston, Martha Owen

  • Michael C. Carlos Museum Conservation Lab, Emory University

  • Sakiori course of Study, Nonaka Hiromi, Ina, Japan

  • Studio work, Hongo Orimono (silk and cotton indigo kasuri), Matsumoto, Japan 

  • Workshops with Norman Kennedy

  • Nyoho-e Zen Stitching, Asheville Zen Center, Great Tree Zen Center

  • Workshop with Jun Tomita, Fiberworks Center, Berkeley, CA

  • Sessions at Penland School of Crafts

  • Apprenticeship (fiber sculpture) - Aurelia Muñoz, Barcelona, Spain

  • Apprenticeship at Colonial Williamsburg

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PUBLICATIONS

  • Flamme Ikats of France and Spain” VAV Magazine, No. 1 2024

  • “Norman Kennedy: Master of Weaving” VAV Magazine, No. 4 2023

  • “Destinies Drawn and Spun: Images of Eve and Mary as Spinstresses” Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot Magazine, Fall 2023

  • “Toshiko Taira: Reviving a Tradition” Handwoven Magazine, September/October 2023

  • “Catching Fire: Flamme Textiles of Europe off the Silk Road” Proceedings of the Textile Histoy Forum 2023

  • “Sashiko-ori Throw” Handwoven Magazine, January/February 2023 

  • “Woven Sashiko” VAV Magazine, 2021

  • “Flamme Textiles of France and Spain” Complex Weavers Journal 2021

  • Illustration and mention in Ikat by Mary Zicafoose 2020

  • “Dressing the Barn Loom” Book Review Handwoven Magazine, Winter 2018

  • “Working with Fine Threads” Handwoven Magazine, Winter 2014

  • Regular Contributor, Cherokee One Feather on Cherokee craft, education and natural resources, 2008-2013

  • “Gathering Places: Traditional Basketmaking and the Environment” National Basketry Organization Quarterly, Jan 2011

  • “Cherokee Basketmakers: The NEXT Generation” National Basketry Organization Quarterly, Jan 2010

  • “Basket Weaving” Asheville Citizen Times, Nov 4, 2008

  • Illustration in Woven Shibori by Catharine Ellis, Interweave Press, 2005

  • Editor for exhibit announcements and catalogues from Chelsea Gallery, 1991-2004

  • WCU Student Handbook editor, 1998-2001

  • “Norman Kennedy: Holding onto the Rope” Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot, Jan 1994

  • Projects Handwoven, 1984-1993

• Book Review, “The Unknown Craftsman (A Japanese Insight into Beauty),” 

Handwoven, Nov/Dec 1984

  • “Afro-American Sweetgrass Basketry” Fiberarts, Sep/Oct 1982

  • “Three Production Weavers: Beth Johnson” (subject) Handwoven, May 1982

• “The Tweeds of Harris” Handwoven, Nov, Dec 1981

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RECENT EXHIBITIONS and AWARDS

2023

  • Transformation Hudgens Center for Art, Atlanta GA Cotton award winner

2022

  • Artist Support Grant NC Arts Council

  • Complexity Emporium Art Gallery Knoxville TN

  • Off the Runway Complex Weavers Association TN

  • Vistas Along the Appalachian Trail HGA Convergence TN

2021

  • Nests Piedmont Craftsmen INC. NC

  • Close to Home Piedmont Craftsmen Inc. NC

  • The Mending Ground, Eden Grove, Victoria, Canada

2020

  • Vistas Along the Appalachian Trail Handweavers Guild of America online

2019

  • Surface Matters Tryon Center for Art and Craft NC

  • All Access AVL Asheville Area Arts Council NC

  • Small Works Webster University St. Louis MO

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PROFESSONAL ORGANIZATIONS

  • Complex Weavers

  • Piedmont Craftsmen, Inc.

  • Local Cloth, Asheville NC

  • Handweavers Guild of America

  • American Crafts Council

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