A Family Affair

The third generation of Johnston artisans

keeps the family legacy alive in Little Harbour

By Risa Merl   Photos by Heather Moore

The gallery (top) shows work by three generations of Johnstons. Left, Pub founder Pete, with one of his father’s “Bahamian Woman.”

I was just a kid the summer my family cruised the Bahamas aboard our sailboat. We found picturesque harbors, amazing snorkeling spots, a vibrant boatbuilding history, and brightly painted houses. But down at the southern end of the Abaco chain was a secluded harbor that held the biggest treasures of all.
Too shallow for our 6’ 5” draft to enter, we dinghied into beautiful and bohemian Little Harbour, home to a protected anchorage, a laidback island pub and a renowned art gallery. Pete’s Pub and Gallery was opened by artist Pete Johnston in 1992, but it was his father, Randolph Johnston, who brought the family to Little Harbour. Randolph arrived in Little Harbour in 1951 aboard his schooner, Langosta, with his wife and three sons. He built a home for his family and eventually a foundry to practice his art of bronzing.

In the foundry, Randolph and his son Pete (and now his grandsons) produced bronze sculptures using a 5,000-year-old technique called the Lost Wax Process, a complex 12-stage method that starts with clay and ends in a stunning bronze sculpture. Randolph was a skilled bronzer who gained only notoriety after settling in Little Harbour, a place he viewed as the perfect escape from what he called the “megamachine” of the western world.
The summer I traveled to Little Harbour, the third generation of Johnston offspring were teenagers themselves and were beginning to apprentice in their grandfather’s foundry and learn the family business. Both Greg Johnston, now 35, and Tyler Johnston, now 31, took to art, each discovering their own creative voice.
Tyler studied sculpture more formally at the Maine College of Art. He also paints and has a few abstract art paintings on display in the Gallery. Tyler believes in the practice of fine art, “as a means to spiritual growth,” and his style can be described as alternative-abstract. He now lives in Yarmouth, Maine, and returns to Little Harbour for visits.
Greg made Little Harbour his home after receiving a B.A. in anthropology from Rollins College. He has a passion for the ocean that shines through in his art, much of which depicts saltwater flats fish and marine life found in the Bahamas. His bronze sculptures can be found on display in the Gallery.
Pete Johnston is proud that the family tradition of bronzing is being carried on. While parts of the Bahamas have changed a great deal since Pete’s Pub and the Gallery’s inception in the early ‘90s, the artist haven of Little Harbour carries on in its original intentions. “All of Abaco has grown for the better. Our development here in Little Harbour has focused on our past and future independence and sustainability,” Pete says. “I hope it continues to grow in a healthy way to encourage all artists and to protect our unique corner of the world.”
Next time you’re in the Abacos, be sure to stop at Little Harbour for a meal and a drink at Pete’s Pub and a tour of the Gallery to pick up one-of-a-kind art by one of the three generations of Johnston artisans.