"The core of my life has been centered on being a visual artist," says Johnson, who traces her signature vibrant-colored intaglio prints to enduring images and values of her native India, including those of her scientist-painter father, Shacheenatha.

Much of Johnson's work reveals Indian wildlife and vegetation, and it revels in Indian tales and folklore. "I've been inspired artistically from these influences and memories, as well as by my imagination," she says. "I believe that visual art becomes most powerful when it springs from cultural diversity and creates insights of universal human significance."

The artist, who has been a member of the Ball State art faculty for 20 years, became enamored with printmaking and, as Johnson says, the "alchemy involved in the art" during graduate school. Printmaking is a demanding three-dimensional method that begins with etching on a series of zinc or copper plates (matrices) and culminates in a lengthy printing and color proofing process--over several days of trial and error--to achieve the desired outcome.

For years, Johnson worked on six-by-nine-inch prints. More recently, thanks in part to funding from the Indiana Arts Commission, she is producing a series of 16-by-20-inch color intaglio prints. The first of these five prints is titled Shiva and Datura, which portrays the dancing pleasure god of Indian mythology and the fertile wildflower known in parts of the United States as jimsonweed.

Johnson says she is pursuing her ideas on a larger scale in order to increase the impact of her work on those who view it. In addition, she seeks to broaden the artistic palette of museum and gallery audiences to include the work of fellow Asian-American artists.

Her belief that art students also receive little exposure to non-Western artists motivated Johnson, art department colleagues Judy Wojcik and David Jackson, and Ball State Museum of Art Director Peter Blume to promote Asian aesthetics and cultural traditions on the Ball State campus. Their goal was to influence the world views of art students and patrons in Muncie and across Indiana.

Supported by an award from the Blakemore Foundation, Johnson was instrumental in bringing artists to the Ball State campus during the 2004 Focus on Asia festival. Titled Honoring Tradition, the exhibit and campus presentations featured three prestigious visiting artists whom Johnson describes as "pioneers in the Asian-American art community": Indira Freitas Johnson from India, who works in mixed media and combines her art and commitment to social activism; Naoko Matsubara, internationally renowned Japanese woodcut artist; and Komelia Okim, a South Korean metalsmith who creates both jewelry and large-scale sculptures that "bridge and integrate the two cultures of her native country and new homeland."

Johnson also speaks passionately of her own quest to reach audiences through local, regional, and national venues. Her prints may be viewed in permanent collections in Chicago, Baltimore, and Honolulu, as well as Indianapolis and Anderson, Indiana. Over the last five years, she has exhibited her work in juried competitions across the Midwest, the Southeast, and the Southwest and, as a visiting artist, has served on the faculty of a number of universities.

As an art educator, Johnson reinforces her belief that an artist needs both a strong work ethic and talent to succeed. Her mission is to instill a pride of craft and an appreciation for the rigors and rewards of the artistic life in her students. She says, "You must make your own opportunities in this field. I teach my students to be advocates for their art."