Dorie Johnson
Watercolourist · Wisconsin to Arizona · Teacher and Framer
The seascape in our collection is signed in two lines of block capitals, DORIE over JOHNSON, and the name leads to a real and well-loved Arizona artist. Doralie Estella "Dorie" Johnson (1932–2015) was a watercolourist, a teacher, the president of a city art league and, for many years, a custom framer with a shop of her own in Gilbert. Her family remember her as one of the notable watercolour and sketch artists of Arizona in the 1970s and 1980s. What follows is drawn from her obituary and from the account her daughters wrote when they founded an art studio in her memory. It is offered with one honest caution: the signature fits her name, but the oil seascape itself is not documented in her recorded work.
A Wisconsin Childhood
Dorie was born on 1 February 1932 in Baraboo, Wisconsin, one of four children of Lawrence and Estella Wakefield. She married John Johnson Jr., and the marriage lasted fifty-six years. In 1958 the couple left Wisconsin for Arizona, and they raised five children in the Phoenix area, where all of them still live.
The Tempe Art League
Watercolour was her medium. Her obituary describes her as a talented watercolour artist and records that she was a member and later President of the Tempe Art League, where she taught classes and sold many of her paintings. Her daughter Meri Wiley put it more simply: their mother was "a very notable watercolor, and sketch artist during the 70's and 80's here in Arizona." Speaking to the Gilbert Sun News in 2022, Meri recalled going to art shows with her mother as a child, meeting other artists and growing up in that world. Drawing, painting, sewing and needlework filled her hours, and she travelled widely, to England, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and Australia.
Frames by Dorie
The second chapter of her working life was spent in the trade that sits closest to painting. With John she created Frames by Dorie, a custom framing business in Gilbert, Arizona. The obituary calls it a successful business of which she was very proud, and her daughters place it in the 1990s and describe it as successful for many years. John, an engineer by profession, was himself a maker: a photographer, gem cutter, silversmith, caster and woodworker, who also taught metalworking, photography and woodworking. The shop was the natural meeting point of two craft-minded lives.
Later Years and a Legacy
Dorie spent her final years at the Citadel in Mesa, where she made many friends, and she died in Mesa on 10 December 2015. That same month two of her daughters, Meri Wiley and Jen Rothstein, gave formal shape to the cARTel, an open studio, teaching space and gallery dedicated to their parents. The gathering of artists behind it had met informally in Meri's Gilbert home for years; it later moved into the OneOhOne Gallery in Mesa. Few painters are remembered by a working studio built in their name.
The Question of the Oil
Every recorded description of Dorie Johnson's art speaks of watercolour and sketching. Our painting is an oil on canvas, with the rocks of the foreground laid on thickly with a knife. Watercolourists who teach often work across media, and the Tempe Art League of her day exhibited oils alongside watercolours, so nothing in the record rules out an oil; but nothing confirms one either. A dedicated search of her family's studio site, the Tempe History Museum's photograph archive of the League, obituary records and resale and auction sites turned up no oil, no seascape and no second canvas signed Dorie Johnson. The attribution therefore rests on the name as written, and we present it as a probable rather than a proven link.
Why Dorie Johnson Matters
Regional art in America was carried by people like Dorie: artists who painted seriously, taught their neighbours, ran the local league and kept the whole enterprise going between exhibitions. Her life traces a familiar and admirable postwar arc, from small-town Wisconsin to the Arizona desert, from the easel to the framing bench, and finally to a studio her children opened so that others could keep learning. A painting that may carry her hand is a small piece of that story.
A Life in the Record
Born Doralie Estella Wakefield on 1 February in Baraboo, Wisconsin, one of four children of Lawrence and Estella Wakefield.
Moves from Wisconsin to Arizona with her husband, John Johnson Jr.; the family settles in the Phoenix area.
Her most notable years as a watercolour and sketch artist in Arizona; member and later President of the Tempe Art League (founded 1964), where she teaches and sells her paintings.
Runs Frames by Dorie, a custom framing business in Gilbert, Arizona, with John.
Dies on 10 December in Mesa, Arizona.
Her daughters Meri Wiley and Jen Rothstein formally establish the cARTel, a studio and teaching space in her and John's honour.
A seascape signed DORIE JOHNSON enters the Viridian Eclection in Reno.
We came to this canvas through its signature and stayed for its surface: thin, blended sea and sky set against rocks built up with a knife until they cast their own shadows. If it is Dorie Johnson's, it shows a watercolourist stretching into oil; either way it is a confident, physical piece of painting.Viridian Eclection, Reno
Inquire About Available Works
Works by Dorie Johnson come to the Eclection one at a time. If you own a work by Dorie Johnson, or have letters, photographs or papers connected with the artist, we would like to hear from you.
