Johno Prascak’s colorful art is known well beyond Pittsburgh
Johno Prascak moves a piece of art at his South Side Slopes studio.
Artist Johno Prascak stirs enamel paint – which he will mix with sand from the Monongahela River to paint with.
Artist Johno Prascak
You might not recognize Johno Prascak’s face, but you more than likely recognize some of his work – particularly if you watch KDKA or have been to Sarris Candies in Canonsburg (his art graces some boxes of delicious chocolate) within the last several years. Prascak was born in Munhall and grew up in Dormont, graduating from Keystone Oaks High School in 1977. He isn’t a trained artist, per se, and began creating art when he was a teenager suffering from ulcerative colitis. Recovering from multiple surgeries, he picked up a paintbrush to pass the time. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, married to fellow artist Maria DeSimone, his colorful works that incorporate enamel paint with sand lifted from the beds of the Monongahela River have not only given him local notariety, but put him on the map all over the world. He’s formed partnerships with KDKA, Fallingwater, Sarris, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and more. He’s worked with many local charities, which have auctioned off his works to raise funds.
“I never stop painting or meeting people,” he says. “You never know what’s around that corner, and I like to pay my bills and eat. It’s going to be another exciting year and we will see what the future brings.”
We hear that you used to be a bartender at Mario’s on the South Side?
I spent 20 years behind the bar. The bartending was a vehicle that got me to this point. I was already married and we bought this building (his South Side Slopes studio) in 2000, and I knew that I was on that path so It was just a matter of time. Tending bar was awesome, but that was not my cup of tea – I wasn’t going to own a bar. So I knew my next chapter would lead to this.
How did you come up with the idea to use sand?
I used to use Rust-Oleum. That was good for starting, but I had to clean my brushes out with gasoline, and that wasn’t good in a closed area. So, I went to latex enamel. And then I was copying Van Goghs and Picassos. I love texture, and one day I had some sand because I was always building stuff, I’m an organic gardener, and I just thought, “That might go good in there, because the paints are enamel and kind of thick.” I don’t know if I invented it, but I love it; it’s really been a part of me. I put Monongahela River sand in every painting. When I do special commissions, I also use sand from those areas. It really tells a story, it’s very organic.
Can you give some examples of special commissions with different sand?
The Friends of Dormont Pool got me a chunk of the concrete that they thought was real old, so I pulverized it, and that’s in the big painting, which is four by five-feet, along with Monongahela River sand. Down in Houston, Texas, I was commissioned by Elise Hillman (a late Pittsburgh philanthropist) to do the painting of George H.W. Bush that hangs in his Presidential Library at Texas A&M University. When I went down to see the painting on display, I took sand from his horseshoe pit and near what is now his gravesite – they let me do it! I’m there in my cargo pants with ziplock bags, the Secret Service watching with cameras waving at me, so I took that back because I collect sand anyhow. And I found out that he loved flags and fishing, on top of everything else he did, and I thought, I’m going to a little flag painting. That had Monongahela River sand in it, sand from the horseshoe pit and near his gravesite. The flag painting, as I know, still hangs in his Houston office, not in the Presidential Library. I was commissioned by The National Aviary, and I took out grit, bark, dirt and sand – I sterilized it because I didn’t know what was in it – then ground it up. It’s in the painting – it tells a story. The Aviary went nuts over that, that painting has really taken on a life of its own. I did a painting for The United States Naval Academy, of Jim “Soupy” Campbell, who passed away. His home was in Phoenix, so I got sand from his backyard, one of the retired Admirals got me sand from the golf course at the Naval Academy, and Monongahela River sand, that’s all in the painting that hangs at the Naval Academy. And then, I was commissioned to go to Medjugorje. back in 1990. When I went there it was Yugoslavia, now it’s in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I got sand, rocks and dirt from there, brought it back, and that’s in the painting with Monongahela River sand.
Approximately how much sand do you use in each painting?
A four by five-foot painting uses between a pint and a quart – I really never measured.
Brag for a minute, and talk about the work featured on television shows, as well as some of your big commissions …
Thank you. “Will and Grace” was the big one. The final episode in 2006, my Hollyhocks print ended up on there, and that was from a Pittsburgh connection. They knew that I did a lot of Steeler work, and they said that Pittsburgh work would not end up on there. At the time I had a choice of a ballerina dancer or hollyhocks, and they picked the Hollyhocks – that was a bucket list moment. Then we fast forward 11 years, they brought the show back. They decided to sign for two years because it was a big hit, and they got ahold of me again. They said, “Johno, what do you have?” I said I love my two hearts, so in 2018 the hearts were on the show. And since they signed for two years, they said I have more work coming up this year – that could mean this season or in the fall. I’ve got a handle on what they want. Probably the biggest commission was the requested portrait of President George H.W. Bush, for his presidential library. That to me is non-political, that is how the presidents want to be remembered. I just keep putting irons in the fire – I’m self-employed as an artist in Pittsburgh, I never dreamed about that one. The United States Naval Academy: as a kid growing up I wanted to be an astronaut or a football player or go on to the (Service) Academies, and that was never going to happen. So that was full circle for me to have a painting hanging down there – it was (due to) another Pittsburgh connection.
What are the specifics of the Pittsburgh Penguins promotion in February?
It’s my first puzzle ever, the Pens logo which I did back in 2009 to cheer our team on, and being with KDKA for years, I loaned them the painting for the set. I got contacted by the Pens, we worked out a deal, and PPG Paints is sponsoring this. It’s not a bobble head, it’s the first puzzle ever, and I’m quite taken by this because I’m a huge fan. I was going to games back in the 1970s when they wore the blue jerseys and no one was there to see them, and it’s most wonderful. They’re printing over 19,000 puzzles and from what I understand, every ticket holder at the Feb. 16 game is going to get one – how wonderful is that? So that’s exciting.
People have been asking me about puzzles the last couple years, and I didn’t really pay attention because I had so much in front of me. But puzzles have made a comeback – I’m not a puzzle person, I don’t have time for it, it’s not my passion, but I do appreciate them. People would say, “Boy Johno, that would be a great challenge for a puzzle.” So I think I’m going to do puzzles after this comes out.
Take us through your process – you have the idea, you have the blank canvas, what next?
They’re all different, “Houses on the Hill,” for example, I thought about that painting for over a year. I wanted to take a little chunk of the South Side Slopes – there are thousands of houses on the Slopes, but there are only about 200 in this painting, which is a lot. So I took multiple pictures – my work is all original. I knew I wanted it to be 4 feet by 5 feet and that actually took me three months to paint. Usually my paintings take six weeks to two months, but that’s ok, there are no rules with me. I didn’t want to put any cars or people in the painting. We know it’s Pittsburgh, but really it could be European or it could be somewhere else. And I’ve had that out since last May and we’ve gotten a great response. My wife and I, we live on top of the Slopes and my studio is right here, so it’s kind of down below me. Other ones come to me in a dream, I write it down, and I start doing it. I do some commissions now and then, a lot of times I just paint – I love to paint my passions and it’s worked out well. I can draw, but it takes me a long time to draw so I do very minimal drawing or none at all. It would take me longer to sketch it than it would to paint it – that’s just how it works for me.
What do you think about Pittsburgh’s arts and cultural scene?
It’s exploding. I think it’s always been there, but I would say the last five years, just like the food scene, there’s so much more. There’s younger people, more people in the arts, you see more public art. I think its tremendous. We need art in this world – positive, good art to help people out or to tell a story. I’m 59 now and I’ve never seen the art scene like this in Pittsburgh, and it’s growing. It’s wonderful.