Often there are more than 1,000 layers used in a single work as he “paints” on the screen in Corel Painter. Johnson’s artworks are digital paintings mixed with digital collages, using historical images from ancient manuscripts. “The tools may be new, but the intent is the same,” he says. Translating this ancient form of art with the new artistic tools of the computer is what makes Johnson’s manuscript pages exciting and different, yet still firmly part of the old tradition. “Medieval illuminated manuscripts were one of the first forms of mass education and communication using the design elements of drawing and painting, calligraphy and graphic design,” Johnson says. The results were Bibles, prayer books and books of hours that were both sublime works of art and private devotionals, and often also practical teaching tools in an era before the printing press was invented. “Illumination” comes from the Latin word “illuminare,” to light up, and refers to the elaborate use of gold and silver leaf, brilliant pigments and dazzlingly complicated illustrations that bring these handmade books to life. Manuscript illumination in Europe began in the Middle Ages and was once the province of dedicated monks who meticulously painted the complex designs by hand on vellum (calfskin), applying precious gold leaf and painstakingly inking the text. Why would a 21st-century artist develop a passion for illuminated manuscripts? Why did Michael Johnson choose that venerable art form-and why did he choose to reflect it via the modern digital tool kit? He feels very strongly about his faith because “it gives me a connection to a greater purpose in life, making me keenly aware that what is beautiful reflects that which is transcendent.” He describes himself as an “Irish Catholic rebel” and is a longtime member of Holy Family Cathedral in Orange. “I modified a book cover I did for them to create Christmas cards, and that started a yearly tradition.” That tradition now has grown to include religious-themed works of digital fine art that can be enjoyed throughout the year.
“Back in 1991, I worked for the computer software imaging company ULead Systems, which had the first true color image editing software, PhotoStyler, sold through Aldus software, which eventually merged into Adobe,” says Johnson. His master’s degree is in painting and drawing, and he has studied various historical forms of art, including paintings and illuminated manuscripts created during the medieval and Renaissance eras. Johnson, a professor emeritus in the Media Arts Design department at Cypress College, was finally able to create his pieces full-time in his Old Towne Orange studio/home after 38 years of college teaching. “He’d never had a museum exhibition before, and we had never shown a digital-art exhibition before, so we thought the time was right to bring his work to a wider audience and to expand our own horizons.”
“We thought Michael’s works were exquisitely beautiful and like nothing we’d ever seen before in the digital-art realm,” says Mary Platt, Director of the Hilbert Museum. His works are currently on exhibition at the Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University, through May 7. These are the illuminated manuscript pages designed by Capio Lumen-Latin for “capture the light”-a pseudonym used by Orange-based artist Michael Johnson when creating his complex digital-collage artworks. Gracefully calligraphed text flows as if organically growing among the scenes of nature and faith. A large, elaborate initial letter, itself entwined with branches and flowers, takes the center stage, framing an elegantly painted Biblical scene. MICHAEL JOHNSON's Digital Illuminated Manuscripts on Exhibit at the Hilbert Museum of California Artīright flowers dance on the page, the tendrils of their vines entwining around colorful birds, butterflies and other creatures, ranging from lions to deer to roosters.