Freedom and imprisonment

"Can't See the Forest for the Trees'' (oil on canvas), by Heidi L. Johnson, in her show "Bird Brained: New Work by Heidi L. Johnson,'' at the Jane Deering Gallery, in Gloucester, Mass. (the former U.S,. fishing capital and now best known as an arts destination and summer resort -- and Boston suburb.)

The gallery says that Johnson has always used "abundance and color to create lush, beautiful paintings, but her recent works add the elements of flight and freedom to the mix. Her vibrant paintings emulate Dutch still-life paintings, using birds to represent the dichotomy of freedom and constriction. As she says, 'The birds in these paintings are a bit confused. As they look at their reflection in the membrane of a glass dome, they see their brethren frozen from flight forever.' The simultaneous freedom and imprisonment of the birds contradicts and compliments Johnson's experience with a world that tries to over-analyze and pigeon hole her work, yet her colorful, frenzied paintings defy categorization.''

"Man at the Wheel'' memorial to fishermen in Gloucester, on Cape Ann.