Johanna Westby: Natural Contrast

Originally from Elliot Lake and now living in Sudbury, Ontario, Johanna Westby is an artist, an illustrator, and a teacher.

She has a bold and unique design style, which revolves around creating and sharing visual expressions of contrasts, which is easily recognizable in her many large-scale public murals and paintings throughout the region. The work in this show represents an exploration of natural subjects expressed through the abstracted stylization of form and colour.

Natural Contrast features 39 new artworks that depict the contrasts in our world between chaos and calm—peaceful land paired with dynamic skies, tranquil lakes with radiant sunsets, or a moment of stillness as an animal pauses, silhouetted against a vibrant, dancing sky. Westby says she is “inspired by the natural environment and subjects of Northern Ontario—the lakes, trees, animals, skies—all the live and familiar elements of the wild that remind us of home”.