1934 - 2015
FLY CREEK - Edwin Arthur Johnson, a
local American folk artist, former real estate agent, and former
textile executive, died late Monday afternoon, May 18, 2015, at the
New York State Veterans' Home at Oxford. He was 81.
Born May 2, 1934 in Brooklyn, he was
the son of Edwin Herbert Johnson and Lillian Swanson Johnson. He was
Baptized at Trinity Swedish Lutheran Church in the Bronx.
His childhood was spent in Palmer,
Massachusetts, Bergenfield, New Jersey, and Teaneck, New Jersey,
graduating from Teaneck High School in 1953. Ed was graduated from
the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences with a B.S. in
Textile Engineering in 1957. On April 20, 1963, Ed married Adele
Louise Merkle in St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Teaneck, New Jersey.
From 1957-59, Ed served in the United
States Army in the 3rd Infantry Division Artillery as Headquarters
Battery Clerk in Kitzingen, Germany. From 1959-62, he was an
assistant to the Technical & Development Director at Geigy
Dyestuff & Chemical Corporation in Tarrytown. He spent 1962-63
with Bernhard Ulmann Co., then 1963-68 as a Senior Engineer with the
Wool Bureau, Inc., a branch of the International Wool Secretariat, in
New York City. From 1968-71 he was co-owner, Vice President and
Treasurer of Color Dynamics Dye Works, Inc., Montgomery,
Pennsylvania. He went to Bentex Mills, Inc., East Rutherford, New
Jersey, in 1971, as Director of Research and Development and Quality
Control, and Departmental Superintendent. The textile field brought
Ed and his family to Cooperstown, when in 1974 he accepted a job as
Plant Manager for Tricot Fabricating Corp. in Dolgeville.
Ed started his second career as a real
estate broker in 1975, when he opened a branch office of Bates Real
Estate in Cooperstown. He went on to become a co-owner of Country
Properties Real Estate and Frog Hollow Real Estate, and to work with
Ashley-Connor Realty, retiring in 2004. During this time, Ed enjoyed
meeting the many people - both local and newcomers to the area --
whom he was able to help. Also, because of the nature of the work, he
spent much time driving around our beautiful countryside, becoming
familiar with the terrain and the old architecture.
Being the realtor for folk artist Janet
Munro when she moved to town, Ed found his third career as a folk
artist. In his years in New Jersey, he and Adele had done artwork
which they sold at craft fairs: sand castings, mobiles, and lamb's
fur products. When Ed saw Janet's folk art landscapes he commented,
"I didn't know you were allowed to paint if you couldn’t
draw." Janet became his mentor, and sometime around 1985 he
began producing a steady stream of beautiful folk art paintings. By
2014 he had completed 533 paintings.
His work was represented by the Frank
J. Miele Gallery in New York City; Gallery Bonheur in St. Louis,
Missouri; Gallery Americana in Houston, Texas; the Atlanta Folk Art
Gallery in Duluth, Georgia; Gallery 53 in Cooperstown; and Toad Hall
in Cooperstown and New York City. He has been in over twenty solo and
group shows in New York City, Cooperstown, Connecticut, Georgia,
Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Poland and
Switzerland. Among these were the Folk Fest in Atlanta, Georgia; The
Outsider Art Fair in New York City; the Jay Johnston Gallery in New
York City; The Intuit Show in Chicago, Illinois; and The American
Center, United States Embassy, Warsaw, Poland.
In 1998, Ed was invited to participate
in the annual International Folk Art Competition in Morges,
Switzerland, where he won 2nd place in the Prix de Publique (Prize of
the Public) and was invited to appear in a group show at the Galerie
Pro Arte Kasper in Morges. His work is in the museum collections of
the New York State Historical Association and the United States
Embassy in Warsaw, Poland.
Ed loved his family, his old and new
friends, painting, his old house in Fly Creek, his clock collection,
his cut glass collection, the "hills and dales" of Otsego
County, Provincetown, color, old diners, playing chess, orange day
lilies, and anything else that struck his fancy. In later years, he
especially loved to greet friends and strangers on Main Street in
Cooperstown, and in the town's New York Pizzeria.
Ed is survived by his wife, Adele
Merkle Johnson; his children and their spouses: Kristina Marie Levine
and Leigh Levine, Christopher E.S. Johnson and Jennifer Griffin, and
Philip R.S. Johnson and Elise Blackburn; his grandchildren: Nathan
Levine, Charlie Levine, Madeline Johnson, Jake Johnson, Eloise
Johnson, and Finn Johnson; his sister and her husband, Dorothy and
William Laggett; his sister-in-law, Phyllis Carstens; and his
paintings.
There will be a Memorial Gathering from
1-3 p.m. on Saturday, July 11, 2015, at the Connell, Dow &
Deysenroth Funeral Home, 82 Chestnut Street, Cooperstown.
Memorial donations may be made to
Children International: www.children.org, 800-888-3089.
Arrangements are under the care and
guidance of the Connell, Dow & Deysenroth Funeral Home in
Cooperstown.
If you would like to send condolences to the family, send an email to Connell, Dow & Deysenroth. We will forward your comments to the family. If you would like to send flowers in memory of the deceased, contact Mohican Flowers at (607) 547-8822, or A Rose is a Rose at (607) 264-3100.
