Johannus Boots: Guides and Guardians

As regular blog readers can tell, I have an affinity for our native peoples and their cultural expressions in art. This work by Johannus Boots seems to express so many things about our Native brothers and sisters in art.



Johannus writes:

A walk through the wonders of Niagara Glen Park is fraught with images cast in rock. Images that seem to encompass animal, man and spirit. They were created thousands of years ago and appear to stand fast to this day with a life of their own. In the opening of this pathway is a cat-like creature that seems to be guarding the beings that have gone before us, protecting the wisdom of the Native peoples and their unbreakable connection to this earth. The experiences of these souls were so powerful that they left a tangible impression. They are waiting to guide us back to the pathway of unity where respect and kindness override war, where honesty and integrity override deception and greed. A path that transcends into a stairway that bypasses the fear manufactured by a corrupt government. A stairway that ascends into a higher state of consciousness. It brings us to the place where we meet the figure in the light. She is there to welcome and remind us that we, in fact, are one and can live in celebration of that unity.
It is with honour and respect that I offer my visual impression of 'Guides and Guardians'.

This picture and more of Johannus's beautiful works can be found on his website. Please click here.

Any Road North, by Johannus Boots

"Any Road North" was commissioned by Cheryl Casselman for her debut Country Music CD release by the same name. There were many synchronicities surrounding this painting from my own move back to the country at the time, as well as seeing my first wild wolf days after Cheryl informed me that it was her husband's totem animal. It is my belief that synchronicities are there to guide us on our path."

Do you want to have some fun? Take a few minutes to look carefully through Johannus's 'Any Road North', to see how many animals you can find.

From Johannus's Website:
Please click here.

Johannus Boots', Latest Work

She stands defiant in her understanding and belief that nothing can harm her and that the wave of fear, which is constantly projected in our lives by the corporate-media and governments is only an illusion. With this confidence and belief, a portal opens to a brighter path of self-awareness.


"All matter is merely energy
condensed to a slow vibration,
we are all one consciousness
experiencing itself subjectively.
There's no such thing as death,
life is only a dream,
and we are the imagination of ourselves."
Bill Hicks

Please click this line to be taken to Johannus's website.

Meet Johannus Boots

I would like to express how important a role my parents played in encouraging my gifts. My father is a talented cabinetmaker and he would love to sculpt in the evenings around the kitchen table. I would sit and watch him and be amazed at how he could transform a block of wood into something so beautiful. I also remember a neighbour showing me a drawing he did of a farm with a driveway that seemed to leap right off the page. It struck me how two lines could show such depth on a flat surface. In 1966, my family immigrated to Canada from Alkmaar Holland.

I was always drawing and when I was sixteen my parents presented me with an airbrush for my birthday (born Nov. 30/1955). I would experiment with friends' motorcycles and soon I was getting work, doing murals and such. This was in the early seventies when customizing vehicles was at its peek. It would dishearten me however, to see my works get damaged or rust away with time and so I turned my creative energy into a more permanent medium, acrylics on canvas.

In the late 70's I attended a commercial art program at Mohawk College in Brantford. This program was offered through Employment Canada. I felt that a certificate would make me more marketable in obtaining a commercial /graphic arts career. After completing the course, I was hired as a spotlight artist with Sears Canada. The job entailed drawing up ideas for promotional displays. It was a great experience however short lived , due to cutbacks. This then lead to the opportunity to open my own art/graphic studio with my brother, Petrus (www.petrusboots.com) and the never wavering support of my parents.

In 1981 Artistik Images was born. We had a small storefront in Bowmanville, Ontario, offering a number of services such as design, portraiture, signs, framing, custom airbrushing on clothing, anything that would pay the bills. When time allowed, I would paint my own work to build a collection of originals so that I could eventually start to attend local art shows and festivals. My expression in my work was highly detailed and somewhat mystical, as I would hide certain things within the paintings that the viewer would slowly come to realize.

In 1988, with the help of Teresa, I began publishing my originals into Limited Edition lithograph prints, which we would sell to galleries but it proved to be much harder than we had anticipated. Galleries were reluctant in taking on an artist's work without a reputable publisher backing him up. So in 1989, I signed up for a three year period with a distributor /agent who helped get my work into 200 galleries throughout Ontario. My creativity was somewhat stifled and compromised, as he would dictate what to paint, since he "knew" what sold. It became a job. He did however introduce me to Judy Smith, a wonderful gallery owner in Toronto (Westmount Gallery). Her 32+ years experience was refreshing and she certainly knew my heart. She helped me by introducing my work to her client base and hosting a number of shows in her gallery. She had clients commission me to do projects for such corporations as Buckley's, Cardinal Courier and the School Bus Operators of Ontario. Eventually my goal was to become self-publishing and distributing, and this dream became a reality.

I reside near Kinmount Ontario and have two children, Symon 21 and Ariah 17 whom have been the subject of many of my paintings.

I feel very fortunate to be able to have a career that is supported by my creative side and to have the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people.

Please click this line to visit Johannus's website:

Johannus Boots

The Dreaming

Johannus Boots, in 'The Dreaming,' takes us beyond our ordinary lives, into a spiritual world. He blurs the present with the past, and he reminds us that what we have today, was the birthright of people who lived long ago.

In the above painting, we find a beautiful woman of European descent lying asleep with the face of a benign and kindly native man looking over her, like a guiding spirit.

In this work, as in many, Johannus delights in contrasts. His viewers switch back and forth between the temporal and spiritual worlds.

Everything lives and breathes and works in harmony in Johannus Boots' spiritually infused world. The standing woman, for instance, in the work above, becomes one with the tree. Her arms become its branches and she holds the moon abover her in an attitude of reverence. And, the tree, of course, is an ancient symbol of life.

As you journey through many of Johannus Boots' works, you find this theme reoccuring as he presents us with a world where animals, people, and children look mysteriously, from within the shapes of rocks and trees.

Johannus Boots gives us a kinder and more loving, pantheistic world of peace, harmony and natural coexistence.

Please join Johannus by clicking on this line to view his website.