Alumni Spotlight: Rebecca Johnston ('16)
Rebecca Johnston started her first business when she was just 11, when she and her friends refilled ink cartridges for their friends and family. When she wasn’t exercising her entrepreneurial spirit, young Johnston (‘16) would sneak away with her mother’s sewing machine, creating strange, new articles of clothing from scraps of old t-shirts.
Now, the Seattle Central Apparel Design alumna and classroom instructional technician is preparing to realize her business-owning dreams. After spending over a decade at the college, she’s excited to finally “be her own boss” — and to work full-time on her rock and mineral art and apparel company that was kickstarted by her final fashion collection at SCC.
Johnston’s mom, an English professor who taught guitar lessons from home part-time, encouraged her to pursue a plethora of creative interests from a young age — on top of doing well in school, of course. While she always dabbled in both fashion and art, it was music that was the most influential medium throughout her teenage years in Idaho.
After graduating from Pocatello High School in 2002, Johnston decided that although education was valued in her family, she wasn’t quite ready for college. Instead, she would pursue a career in music full-time.
I had a suitcase, my guitar, and like a hundred dollars in my pocket. And I had a one-way ticket to Seattle...
Her journey began in Kansas City, Missouri, where she played her first open mics. She described her musical style at the time as mostly “singer-songwriter,” but infused many of her songs with a touch of parody. She enjoyed collaborating and “jamming all night” with artists from countless other genres too, from rock to reggae.
She bounced around small towns until her passion for music eventually led her to Seattle in 2003. “I had a suitcase, my guitar, and like a hundred dollars in my pocket. And I had a one-way ticket to Seattle and some friends that I met online that I never met in person,” she said. While in Seattle, she took various jobs in the food industry, including Pagliacci Pizza, and continued to play music.
As Johnston continued to explore her creativity in Seattle, she was drawn to the same experimentation in fashion she loved as a kid. “What I was making clothing-wise this whole time were stage outfits,” she explained. “Every time I had a new show booking, I would make a new dress or an outfit for it.” Johnston would even hand design the posters for her shows.
It was really rigorous, but I kind of thrived off of that.
As much as Johnston loved playing gigs, she realized after nearly a decade in Seattle that music alone wasn’t going to keep paying the bills. Instead, she started to look into options for fashion, since she was already regularly creating pieces for her shows.
She made her first collection for a Ballard boutique called Monster. “I didn't really know what I was doing, but I made it work,” Johnston said. After her first collection, Johnston started researching local fashion programs and landed on Seattle Central.
“I'd heard this program was very good at balancing the creative and the technical aspects so that you could go through it and get a good job when you're done,” she said. “It was really rigorous, but I kind of thrived off of that.”
Johnston already had the creative mind, but now she had the technical knowledge, resources, and connections to make a career in art and fashion a reality. She also found her community.
I love seeing their journeys. I love seeing what they create. I'm inspired by other people's creativity all the time.
When Johnston and her friends in the program became overwhelmed before a deadline, they would play hide-and-seek in the design lab. “We'd huddle up underneath a machine and try not to disturb class, so it'd be a quiet game of hide-and-seek.” she recalled. “People working around us would be like, ‘what's going on over there? Why are they crouched under that machine?’ and we’d just say ‘shhh.’”
Immediately after graduating in 2016, Johnston was offered a temporary position running the Apparel Design lab. When the opportunity came to apply full-time, she took it.
Johnston loves creating connections with the students, especially since she was a student herself not too long ago. “I’m kind of like the cushion they can go to when they don't feel like they can go to their instructors, or they're just feeling overwhelmed. I'm always a safe space for them,” she said. “I love seeing their journeys. I love seeing what they create. I'm inspired by other people's creativity all the time.”
After 11 years at Seattle Central, Johnston is now moving on to her business, RJ Artwear, full-time. While RJ Artwear has always had a geology focus, Johnston has recently transitioned from making original garments to hyper-realistic drawings.
I didn't give up and I just kept experimenting and trying new mediums. Never stopped and probably never will.
“When the pandemic hit, I realized I really missed drawing, and I got really into the idea of learning how to do realism art,” she explained. “My whole goal was to be able to draw crystals and minerals because they’re very difficult — and I wanted to know why they’re so difficult.” Johnston sells her art in the form of both prints and apparel.
Although Johnston is saying goodbye to Central after 11 years, she is not done with the Seattle Colleges entirely. As she transitions out of full-time employment and adjusts to self-employment, Johnston plans to teach a few classes at North Seattle College. She’ll be teaching a charcoal drawing class this summer, and potentially an online charcoal portrait class in the fall.
Johnston is beyond excited to finally be her own boss — and to spend more time mining for precious gems near North Bend. She’s grateful that she never gave up on her various artistic pursuits, and that Seattle Central gave her the technical skills necessary to turn those passions into a career.
“I didn't give up and I just kept experimenting and trying new mediums.” she said. “Never stopped and probably never will.”