Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Utah artist J.R. Johansen completed a portrait of Marine David Espinoza.
- Espinoza was killed during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
- Johansen provides portraits for grieving families without charge as a form of healing.
HUNTSVILLE — Many people have that one peaceful place. It might be a beach, desert, or building, or wherever you can shut off the world for a little bit.
For J.R. Johansen, that place is a small shed behind his Huntsville home.
It's his art studio, though sometimes, he laughs, it is his "man cave." But it's actually more than that.
Inside, something special often happens. Johansen does portraits, and he's good at them. Really good.
But his true gift isn't just in his chalk work, it's in the faces he brings back to life for families who thought they'd never see them again.
"I kind of get emotional about it because I feel like he was there," Johansen said, talking about how he often feels when he gets deep into a portrait.
Recently, Johansen completed a portrait for the family of U.S. Marine David Espinoza.
Espinoza is one of the 13 American service members killed in Afghanistan during the U.S. withdrawal in 2021.
"He was only 20 years old, I think. Or 21," said Johansen.
His family saw a portrait Johansen created of Utah's Sgt. Taylor Hoover, another Marine among the 13, and Espinoza's mother asked Johansen if he would do one for them, too.
"I can tell she really misses him," said Johansen in almost a whisper.
He finished the piece last week and will soon send it to Texas.
He doesn't charge for this kind of work.
Instead, he says the peace and comfort he feels knowing how much a portrait will mean to a family is payment enough.
"I just got to believe, based on past experience, that this portrait will bring her comfort as well," he said.
For J.R. Johansen, art isn't about money or recognition.
It's about healing.
He has done portraits for families of missionaries who have died, for families of the Uvalde, Texas, school shootings, and his next project will be of the victims of the church shootings in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
For families who've lost someone they love, Johansen knows he can't bring them back, but with every swipe of a piece of chalk, he can bring them closer.
"This is what I can do. And I'll do it until I can't anymore," he said.
