Blessed: Art Changed the Course of Ken Johnson’s Life

Page 7A, 10-08-09

Blessed
MARION, Va. – Ken Johnson thanks God for allowing him to paint.
In fact, a religious experience – when Johnson got saved – is the reason that he paints today, the artist said.
The year was 1974, and Johnson was living a wild life as a bass player in a local rock ‘n’ roll ‘n’ soul band, The Velveteers.
This band played everywhere – “wherever people wanted to hear us,” Johnson said – from Marion to Roanoke.
But Johnson was on “a destructive course,” he said. “No doubt about it.”
A pastor turned Johnson on to an artist, Pat Thompson, who, in turn, introduced the young man to painting watercolors.
Johnson learned to put down his bass guitar and pick up a paintbrush.
“But it wasn’t like I knew what I was doing,” said Johnson, now 62. “I just knew it was pretty neat, pretty different.”
Johnson has been painting ever since – with great detail. He tackles local landmarks – like the Shot Tower of Wythe County, Wytheville’s Rock House and the Rural Retreat Depot.
He paints side-of-the-road barns at Fort Chiswell, Va., and other structures scattered across Southwest Virginia.
One recent painting by Johnson shows off the Roberts Mill of Smyth County, located along the South Fork of the Holston River at Teas.
Johnson, too, takes his subjects back in time. He drops in meticulously detailed characters, dressed in long-ago outfits, walking among high grass. All look like they belong to the era of the 1800s.
Yet, watercolor did not remain Johnson’s forte.
Over time, Johnson switched to oil painting on canvas, because oil, he said, “is forgiving.”

‘SEE HIS WORK’
Johnson grew up on the south side of Wytheville in a large family. Among his siblings is John Johnson, one of Wythe County’s leading historians.
Now semi-retired, Johnson worked as a machinist for 43 years.
Today, Johnson splits his time between pastoring Wytheville’s Morning Star Church of God and running Reaping Hook, a frame shop and art gallery located between Wytheville’s Main Street and the Rock House Museum.
Framing has paid the rent at the Reaping Hook. Art sales, Johnson said, remain sporadic.
“I have three or four collectors, and they maybe buy once or twice a year,” Johnson said.
Still, Johnson keeps plugging away, producing new paintings. Over the years, he’s painted about 200. Some, like the depiction of the Rural Retreat Depot, have become popular prints.
Another – a scene that imaginatively blends Wytheville with Chincoteague, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore – has been chosen to be on the cover of the new AARP calendar for 2010, Ken Johnson said.
“I tell him all the time that it’s a blessing from God, that not everybody can be an artist,” said Phyllis Johnson, his wife of 29 years.
Starting Oct. 9, Johnson plans to showcase his work for a month at the Appalachian Spirit Gallery in Marion, Va.
Later, he makes a stop this year with his art at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre in Wytheville.
Phyllis Johnson, too, hopes to see her husband’s art on many gallery walls.
Smiling, she said, “I think it’s good for people to see his work.”

| (276) 791-0704

YOU SHOULD KNOW

What: Gallery opening and artist reception for Ken Johnson. Show also includes works by CiCi Brown Vesce

Where: Appalachian Spirit Gallery, 144 W. Main St., Marion, Va.

When: Oct. 9, 5-9 p.m. Show will continue through Nov. 6. The gallery is open Monday to Thursday, noon to 5 p.m.

Info: (276) 759-3890
MARION, Va. – Ken Johnson thanks God for allowing him to paint.
In fact, a religious experience – when Johnson got saved – is the reason that he paints today, the artist said.
The year was 1974, and Johnson was living a wild life as a bass player in a local rock ‘n’ roll ‘n’ soul band, The Velveteers.
This band played everywhere – “wherever people wanted to hear us,” Johnson said – from Marion to Roanoke.
But Johnson was on “a destructive course,” he said. “No doubt about it.”
A pastor turned Johnson on to an artist, Pat Thompson, who, in turn, introduced the young man to painting watercolors.
Johnson learned to put down his bass guitar and pick up a paintbrush.
“But it wasn’t like I knew what I was doing,” said Johnson, now 62. “I just knew it was pretty neat, pretty different.”
Johnson has been painting ever since – with great detail. He tackles local landmarks – like the Shot Tower of Wythe County, Wytheville’s Rock House and the Rural Retreat Depot.
He paints side-of-the-road barns at Fort Chiswell, Va., and other structures scattered across Southwest Virginia.
One recent painting by Johnson shows off the Roberts Mill of Smyth County, located along the South Fork of the Holston River at Teas.
Johnson, too, takes his subjects back in time. He drops in meticulously detailed characters, dressed in long-ago outfits, walking among high grass. All look like they belong to the era of the 1800s.
Yet, watercolor did not remain Johnson’s forte.
Over time, Johnson switched to oil painting on canvas, because oil, he said, “is forgiving.”

‘SEE HIS WORK’
Johnson grew up on the south side of Wytheville in a large family. Among his siblings is John Johnson, one of Wythe County’s leading historians.
Now semi-retired, Johnson worked as a machinist for 43 years.
Today, Johnson splits his time between pastoring Wytheville’s Morning Star Church of God and running Reaping Hook, a frame shop and art gallery located between Wytheville’s Main Street and the Rock House Museum.
Framing has paid the rent at the Reaping Hook. Art sales, Johnson said, remain sporadic.
“I have three or four collectors, and they maybe buy once or twice a year,” Johnson said.
Still, Johnson keeps plugging away, producing new paintings. Over the years, he’s painted about 200. Some, like the depiction of the Rural Retreat Depot, have become popular prints.
Another – a scene that imaginatively blends Wytheville with Chincoteague, on Virginia’s Eastern Shore – has been chosen to be on the cover of the new AARP calendar for 2010, Ken Johnson said.
“I tell him all the time that it’s a blessing from God, that not everybody can be an artist,” said Phyllis Johnson, his wife of 29 years.
Starting Oct. 9, Johnson plans to showcase his work for a month at the Appalachian Spirit Gallery in Marion, Va.
Later, he makes a stop this year with his art at the Wohlfahrt Haus Dinner Theatre in Wytheville.
Phyllis Johnson, too, hopes to see her husband’s art on many gallery walls.
Smiling, she said, “I think it’s good for people to see his work.”

| (276) 791-0704

YOU SHOULD KNOW

What: Gallery opening and artist reception for Ken Johnson. Show also includes works by CiCi Brown Vesce

Where: Appalachian Spirit Gallery, 144 W. Main St., Marion, Va.

When: Oct. 9, 5-9 p.m. Show will continue through Nov. 6. The gallery is open Monday to Thursday, noon to 5 p.m.

Info: (276) 759-3890

Web: http://www.appalachianspiritgallery.com