ART BIO
Jonny Haydn began painting in the late 1970s, signing them as "laght" (his first spoken baby-word was a mispronounced "light"). There was a long break between 1983 and 1999 as he intentionally dove into learning about life. In '99, while walking the beach in Malibu, CA, over many months, he filled his pockets with whichever beautiful, naturally smoothed small stones the ocean's waves revealed, on any given day.
Jonny moved to Vero Beach, FL in 2002 where he continued beach combing, collecting small salt and sun bleached coral remnants and bags full of coarse shell sand. Its handfuls feel MAHvelous. When mixed with clear epoxy that shell sand becomes fine, strong fill. One day, as he was leaving the beach, believe it or not, a quiet, silent voice spoke to him saying, "Sphere." Those Malibu stones became his first hollow stone sphere, entitled "ZumaSphere."
Jonny's 1977 Dodge Tradesman Van, since January, 1998. He uses it regularly. It only has 162,000 original miles on it, as of February, 2025.
In 2004 Jonny combed the New England coastlands for sphere building stones. His 1977 Dodge Tradesman van, purchased in SO-CAL in January 1998 was happy to hold them, and him, that summer. Back in Vero Beach, with September came two hurricanes, Frances and Jeanne. Each flooded his home/studio. Rehabbing again he decided, in 2005, to head for the old Ozarks medium-sized mountains, where tornadoes are less likely than in the flatter, open spaces. That decision worked out well because the surrounding woods provided him with fallen or hollowed trees he has used in creating his sculptures. Despite their origins, they must be exhibited indoors, away from the Sun's, and any other source of UV light.
In 2012, his modest sized Ozarks home began filling up with sculptures. Jonny returned to painting. He wanted them to have floating frames and devised a simple, practical way to utilize lightweight backboards. Stainless steel mounting bolts hold hanging wire as well as each painting. Spool spacers create depth between the paintings and their backboards, that floating effect.
