David Johns was born in Winslow, Arizona. Johns received formal training in fine arts from Northern Arizona University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in 1982. In 1996, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters from Northern Arizona University.
Johns started selling portraits and landscapes while still in high school. His work combines his formal training with the traditional teachings he learned as a child and the Navajo philosophy of life by which he lives. The symmetry of his paintings reflect this harmony and balance; the colors and textures he creates reflect the beauty of the land from which he comes. His abstract paintings capture life’s subtle phenomena such as the sunlight at different times of the day or the emotions brought by each of the four seasons.
In 1987, Johns was approached by long-time mentor Lovena Ohl and Albert Wareing to paint a mural on the dome of Concord Place. The mural covered thirty-six feet in diameter and rose 50 feet in the air, and took 18 months to paint. The mural depicts native peoples in all four directions, presenting indigenous designs and symbols, and portraits of great leaders such as Crazy Horse and Quanah Parker.
Beginning in 1976, David’s work has been exhibited at gallery shows all over the world, with many solo exhibitions including Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Arizona (1977); C.G. Rein Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico (1984); The Concord Place, Phoenix, Arizona (1987); Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico (1993); Palais de Nations, United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland (1999); and the Lanning Gallery, Sedona, Arizona (2006).
Though David’s masterworks can be found in museums and private collections worldwide, one of the more spectacular viewings is of a mural he painted in 1987 which can be found under the dome at Concord Place in Phoenix. The mural is thirty-six feet in diameter and rises 50 feet; it took 18 months to paint. The mural depicts native peoples in all four directions, presents indigenous designs and symbols, and portraits of great leaders such as Crazy Horse and Quanah Parker. Noted author N. Scott Momaday wrote, "David Johns is a seer, and he comes very honestly by that gift. In his remarkable artwork, he enables us to see as well. His gift becomes our gift. Here is the essential spirit of creation."
“My creations on paper or canvas do not come from a place of preconception. They come from the inner most chamber of my soul. The essence of what I am is a spiritual being. I am a Diné (Navajo) man of the Tl’a’a’shchi’I’ clan and born for the Kiiya’’aannii clan. Evan as I write it, it feels like I am saying a prayer.
Everything I am and do I hope comes from a place of harmony. If my mind, body and spirit are in balance then I can produce an image which reflects my truth. I hope my abstractions are ways for the observer to feel the essence of my inner self; not to get caught up in the distractions of outer appearances. It is not the form that touches our deepest longings, but rather the story my images evoke in the viewer. This is the ultimate impact of my art,” opined David Johns.
