Selected Professional History.

MA degree in Arts Education with a focus in Audience Research from USF; BFA from Ringling College of Art and Design; and Co-Active Coach Certification from the Co-Active Training Institute. Continuing over three decades to serve clients and diverse audiences as a Leadership Coach, Curator, and Community Engagement Consultant. Through deep listening, honoring diverse perspectives, and activating new and creative thinking, the broad spectrum of art exhibitions, learning environments, collaborations, community-building initiatives and educational programs I have developed, have served as effective catalysts for personal and institutional transformation.

Current

Currently my focus is in two fields: Creating two and three-dimensional works of art, and providing personal development and leadership coaching to clients locally, nationally, and internationally. Since 2015 I have served over 300 clients in a range professional fields: artists, college faculty, K-12 educators, non-profit leaders, business owners and healthcare professionals.   

2022 authored and published a 140-page artist monograph, Carolyn A. Johnston, A Creative Life.

Previous 

Community Engagement Initiatives

Co-coordinated a six-year Project for Seed of Academic Resources Learning Center. In partnership with philanthropists, Community leaders and design team led the expansion of a 930 sq. ft. building, housing a small K-3 school program in the Newtown Community in Sarasota, to a 3000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art educational facility. This initiative included the formation of a non-profit organization, board of directors and ongoing fundraising and strategic planning to support continued growth of the school.

In partnership with The Fulton Ross Group, co-authored and received a 473K grant award for a project entitled Many Voices, One Story. The aim of the proposed project included engaging the Opa-locka, Dade County community in the process of developing a community park, and the installation of a monumental sculpture within it. The project was funded in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, Miami, Dade County, FL,

The South Florida Museum, Bradenton: Developed a community engagement Initiative in conjunction with The Highwaymen, Florida’s Landscape Painters exhibition, which included community outreach, open dialogue meetings with diverse community groups, a symposium, and a Community Friends and Family Celebration.

Curatorial

Works by Chakaia Booker: An Exhibition of Sculptures and Prints. The installation included prints and monumental and small scale sculptures, Sarasota Season of Sculpture, Herald-Tribune Headquarters Building, Sarasota

Restoration/Conservation Initiative: El Templo de San Francisco El Grande, Antigua, Guatemala

Working with a team of professional art conservators coordinated a four-year initiative to restore a monumental retablo containing seven 18th Century Colonial Paintings.

Season of Sculpture, Season VII, Shared Ground: The exhibition featured ten monumental outdoor sculptures installed along Sarasota’s Bayfront Drive. Artists included: Heinz Aeschlimann, Hans Van de Bovenkamp, Robert Chambers, Richard Herzog, Linda Howard, Jun Kaneko, Jae Hyo Lee, and Boaz Vaadia.

Shared Ground Small Works Exhibition, in conjunction with Season VII: The exhibition included small-scale sculptures by the eight artists featured in the Bayfront exhibition. Herald-Tribune Headquarters Building, Sarasota

“Stroke” Interactive Installation: Project CREO, St. Petersburg Art Center, St. Petersburg, FL

Hip Hop Is…? Exhibition, Art Center Sarasota, and the North Sarasota County Public Library

Three exhibitions for the Family Heritage House Museum, A Gallery and Resource Center for the Study of African-American Achievements, State College of Florida, Bradenton:

From Obscurity to Excellence: Celebrating Black Achievement in Sports Exhibition;

Many Faces, One Story; and

Encounters Gazes and Stereotypes

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota:

Curated over twenty Interactive Educational exhibitions in designated education galleries: Gallery 13, the Contemporary Gallery Inner Space, and gallery spaces throughout the museum campus, including: Is Baroque a Thing of the Past?, John Ringling: Dreamer, Builder Collector, My Museum?, Conservation at the Ringling, and installations in conjunction with Sebastio 

Salgado: Workers, Embedded Metaphor, Joseph Beuys, and Blurring the Boundaries exhibitions.

Sand, Stone, and Water: An Interactive Outdoor Installation, Florida House Institute and Environmental Learning Center, Sarasota, FL

Arts Institution Leadership

Executive Director, Art Center Sarasota. Maintained oversight and managed operations including Board of Directors, 500K budget, marketing, fundraising and development, grant writing, facilities, and capital improvements. Sarasota, FL

Strategic Planning Project Assistant, Springuel Consulting, Sarasota, FL

Clients included Tuskeegee University and the National Art Education Association.

Assistant to lead faculty, Marianna Adams, Ph.D., The Institute for Learning Innovation, MD

Conducted audience research and a visitor impact study for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Senior Education Program Specialist, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota

Developed a range of community engagement initiatives, teacher training workshops, tours and gallery programs for adults, youth and visually impaired visitors. Coordinated State-wide traveling print exhibitions, and developed a classification system for the Museum’s art historical image library.