Ella Johnston: New Works at Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre
16 June – 17 July 2025
The Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre presents a solo show by artist Ella Johnston, running from 16 June to 17 July as part of the vibrant Harwich Festival.
The exhibition offers a dynamic and eclectic selection of Johnston’s latest work, featuring vivid graffiti-inspired abstract landscape paintings alongside sculptural pieces such as ethereal paper clouds and expressive fabric and wire constructions. With bold colour palettes and striking compositions, the show captures the artist’s immersive exploration of gesture, memory, and material.
Inspired by visits to Harwich and Dovercourt, Johnston’s new paintings harness street art energy and calligraphic mark-making, blurring boundaries between text, symbol, and abstraction. Her sculptural works, marked by folds, texture, and motion, evoke themes of homesickness, rewriting, and transformation—concepts rooted in her background in journalism and publishing.
“Each mark is a memory or a question,” Johnston explains. “The surfaces I work on—be it canvas, paper, or fabric—respond in their own way, making each piece a conversation.”
Johnston is also the creative director and co-founder of Dunlin Press, an independent publishing house where she designs evocative cover artwork for books exploring place, nature, and culture.
This show reflects Johnston’s ongoing investigation into how stories are told, erased, and retold—and how those narratives shape who we are.
Ella will also be holding a mark-making workshop on Saturday 21 June to accompany the show.
Venue
Harwich Arts and Heritage Centre
Main Road, Dovercourt, Essex
16 June – 17 July
