WILTON – It’s hard to nail down exactly what Vera Johnson does.
You could say she’s an artist, but that’s a pretty general term. You could say she’s a business owner, and that would be accurate, although her business model is really more of a cooperative endeavor, so even that label doesn’t totally fit. You could say she’s a welder, but she would be quick to add some more descriptive language, grabbing whatever recently made creation is nearby for proof.
“I don’t like labels. I’m not a welder, or a potter, or a metalworker. I just want to know a little bit about a lot of things,” Johnson said. “I will never claim to know everything about anything.”
Johnson makes this declaration while standing in an echoey, giant old warehouse. Her creations have started to fill the space- a giant steel ball stuffed with Christmas lights sits in the middle, sheets of metal with rough letters cut out stand on a windowsill, and everywhere, Johnson’s tools hang and lean and exist, some of them enormously magnificent, waiting to be used.
“I love tools. Even the ones I don’t know how to use.”
The warehouse, an old fiddlehead and dandelion canning factory that existed for more than 135 years, is a tool itself in Johnson’s eyes. The possibilities for the space are endless, and Johnson plans to put every single one of them into action. From welding and woodworking to pottery and jewelry, Johnson plans to offer workshops, residencies and apprenticeships all focused around a wide variety of arts. She also wants to host community events such as small scale concerts and blacksmithing meet ups. The Belle Creative Arts Center- a nod to the original “Belle of Maine” canning company- will bring the learning right to Johnson’s dooryard.
Drawing inspiration from the masters, some of whom are friends, Johnson looks to creators such as Louise Joséphine Bourgeois, Tasha Tudor, Georgia O’Keefe, Butch Anthony and Paul Sorey when she needs motivation. Along with her tools, and the captivating role of fire, Johnson said she loves the transformative process. Though she is also skilled at manipulating materials, she prefers a complete 180. Such as pieces of an old tractor that become a giant dragonfly, or the roof of the statehouse becoming earrings.
“It’s the out of the box thinking. Railings and cars…that’s not what I do.”
Building community, preferably around a fire, is what Johnson does do, and the Belle Creative Arts Center is aiming at that. A sense of confidence about the success of the space is already laying a foundation for what will soon be. This isn’t Johnson’s first rodeo at taking on such a big endeavor. Aside from her downtown Farmington shop- Vera’s Iron & Vine- Johnson also created a similar arts center/garden nursery/community center space in her former hometown of Seattle, Washington.
“I can already feel that this location has the fire in it. I don’t even know yet all that’s possible here,” she said.
