Sofía Johnson; "Lucía”

Artist Feature: Sofía Johnson / Art / Class of 2022

By Sofía Johnson

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Though Escribe Maria staff member and St. Mary's senior Sofía Johnson is both an artist and writer, she chooses to focus on her artwork. Johnson, an actively involved Escribe staff member since her freshman year, has artwork featured in the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, and 2020-2021 editions. She has not submitted her artwork for any award consideration, however, citing lack of interest. “As much as it's fulfilling to get recognition for your work, the process is what matters to me the most,” she says. “I just want to translate the truth and beauty I see in the world visually and enjoy doing it.”

Johnson draws inspiration from many sources, some from the real world and some from the imagined. Although she doesn't have a fancy camera, Johnson takes photos of anything she finds beautiful or intriguing: “My iCloud storage is always full. I'll take a photo of anything interesting that I want to remember or draw.” One of her biggest draws of inspiration is music: “For me, music is everything. I'm a huge audiophile. I have thousands of songs on my playlists!” Most of all, however, her strong imagination guides her creativity. Ever since she can remember, she has had a vivid imagination and a penchant for daydreaming: “I always have crazy, colorful, and often lucid dreams, so I'll often note details from dreams for my artwork.” As a child, she would go on trips to the library to peruse graphic novels with her mother, and her family would visit fine art galleries.

When it comes to her creative process, she enjoys a variety of mediums, styles, and techniques, while going with the flow: “I just let my creativity guide me in the moment. I find that my best work is when I don't think about it too much.” Because of this, she'll often have many unfinished sketches and ideas waiting in the works. Although she's still polishing her other artworks, quality comes first.

Coming from a multicultural background, she has always felt in between two worlds, which has broadened her perspective. Her mom is from Lima, Perú and her dad is Norwegian-American: “Because I'm white, I've always struggled with embracing my Latina side.” In her digital illustration “Lucía,” she wanted to commemorate her great aunt by naming the character after her tía Lucía, nicknamed “Luchita.” The piece is part of a collection of portrait pieces that she has yet to finish.

With the pressures of school and life, art has not been her top priority, but she is committed to turning her collection of sketches and notes-app-thoughts into finished pieces. “Lucía” was published in the 2020-2021 edition of Escribe Maria.