Black PR Wire Power Profiler on Cynthia Farrell Johnson

In 1980, as Cynthia Farrell Johnson prepared for her first diplomatic assignment in West Africa, a friend warned that no matter where she went, it would be smart to ask permission before taking someone's picture. In many parts of the world, people can become offended when foreign visitors take their photos. Not wanting to bother anyone, Johnson decided to record what she saw in sketches. They eventually developed into paintings of the things that she thought were unique. This became a habit and the paintings became visual diaries that she often referred to as personal postcards.

As long as she can remember, Johnson wanted to be an artist. While her parents nurtured this dream, they were also pragmatists, suggesting that she study other subjects besides art, "just in case."

Hence, after graduating from New York City's High School of Art & Design, she majored in art history at State University of New York at New Paltz, and eventually earned a degree in library science at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. After working for a time at Brooklyn Public Library in her native New York, she decided to follow another dream"" living overseas.

Diplomatic service was a logical choice. She is currently an instructor in the Public Diplomacy Training Division at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State in Arlington, Virginia.

Her paintings have been exhibited overseas in cultural centers and galleries in Ivory Coast, Benin, Panama, Paraguay. Uruguay, and El Salvador. A participant in the Department of State Art in Embassies Program, her paintings have adorned the walls of ambassadorial residences in Belgrade, Serbia and Managua, Nicaragua, and will soon be also found in Quito Ecuador. She has also exhibited at home in the U.S. in Iowa, New York, Rockville and Gaithersburg, Maryland and various venues in Washington, DC. Johnson is a member of the Rockville Art League.