A craftsman for all seasons

By Debby De Carlo

The Forest Grove News-Times, Aug 5, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Forest Grove resident and artist Mickey Johnson stands amid some of the many pieces he makes — walking sticks, rolling pins, cribbage boards and more — and then sells at Valley Art on Main Street. Many local residents know him as the former English and theater teacher at Forest Grove High School and a talented director and crafter of plays at Theatre in the Grove. Others know him as a jovial Santa who sits in a sleigh outside his house during the holidays.

Chase Allgood / News-Times

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Mickey Johnson doesn’t make walking sticks, cribbage boards, rolling pins, gavels or wine stoppers for the money. That’s a good thing, since he gives a lot of what he makes to friends and relatives.

“As long as I make enough to pay for a fishing trip to Alaska every other year, I’m happy,” said the 70-year-old retired English and theater teacher. Fortunately, his pieces made out of exotic woods sell steadily enough at Valley Art in downtown Forest Grove to make sure he gets to Sitka without fail.

Johnson started working with wood when he was first involved in theater arts at Theatre in the Grove and Forest Grove High School more than 40 years ago. Though a teacher and director, he had a hand in many of the sets, including the stage itself and the orchestra pit at Theatre in the Grove.

At the same time, he and his wife, Diane, bought a house in Forest Grove in 1969, the house they still live in today.

“First I bought a table saw and a radial arm saw,” he explained. After they had added a family room on the house, Diane mentioned she had her eye on bedroom furniture that cost $1,500.

“I bought a router, dove tail jigs, a drill press and staple gun next,” Johnson said. The bedroom set continues to grace the home.

Not a craftsman

“I’m not a fine craftsman,” he said as he walked through the house, pointing out one piece after another that he’s made. “I hate finish work.” You’d never know it to look at the desks, beds, dressers, chairs – and fine oak kitchen cabinets.

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