Safe Places: Robert Johnson On View to the Public: February 7 - August 1, 2021 It is as if artist Robert Johnson was experiencing the longing for safety amidst the current pandemic when titling his major body of work, Safe Places. In truth, Johnson started this ambitious project three years ago, with the objective to reside and work on site in all 41 North Carolina State Parks. This exhibition premieres more than 80 artworks realized through the artist’s vulnerable investigations. Johnson has chronicled the natural world on three continents in pencil, acrylic, and gouache on paper and canvas for over 40 years. His work echoes influences from late medieval Italian, American Folk, Indian Miniature, Tibetan Thangka, and Balinese painting traditions. Besides large-scale paintings, Safe Places includes his journal and notebook pages; intimate, annotated field observations of plants, birds, along with notes to himself.