Bill Johnston was an artist who worked for many years as an interior designer of commercial spaces before devoting himself to silverpoint drawings, which employ a painstaking technique once used by medieval scribes.
“Bill was quite a character, endearing and remarkable as an artist to whom certain talents and abilities were gifted,” said Beth Franke, co-founder of the Gallery 28 art gallery in west suburban Geneva, where some of Johnston’s works were displayed. “Bill was quite a unique and memorable character in our introduction to opening an art gallery … certainly the most memorable artist, characterwise, who walked through our door.”
Johnston, 86, died of cardiac failure on June 13 at his home, said his daughter Amy Phelps. He had been a resident of Wayne since 1961.
Born Billy Mitchell Johnston in Milwaukee, Johnston was named after the famed Milwaukee-area general and aviator, Billy Mitchell. After earning a bachelor’s degree in applied art from the University of Wisconsin, Johnston served in the Air Force for several years during the Korean War.
He moved to Chicago to pursue a design career and found work designing retail store spaces for department stores such as Montgomery Ward and Carson Pirie Scott, his daughter said. Johnston and his wife, Gladys, married in 1953 and moved in 1955 from the Rogers Park neighborhood to Lombard.
In 1959, the couple started a design business, B&G Johnston Design, which focused on commercial and institutional commissions.
“He wanted to work for himself and wanted to be able to design things out of his head without someone telling him what to do,” Phelps said. “I think the originality was lost when he worked for somebody else.”
Johnston’s work included the designs for the restaurant at the Abbey Resort on Geneva Lake in Fontana-on-Geneva Lake, Wis., and for the Presidents’ Walk restaurant at the McCormick Place convention center on South Lake Shore Drive. He also designed the Enrico Fermi exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and created an exhibit speaker that is commonly used in museums.
Johnston’s work drew admirers, to the point where he didn’t need to advertise his services, his daughter said. “He was kind of a word-of-mouth guy,” she said.
In 1961, Johnston and his wife moved to an 1893 Queen Anne-style house in Wayne, which they completely renovated. “I don’t remember a time as a child when the house wasn’t under construction,” Phelps said.
In 1983, Johnston started devoting himself to art. His medium of choice was silverpoint drawings — often nudes — which are made by applying silver to a prepared surface.
Jan Schmuckal, who owns Gallery 28, remembered when an “older gentleman who looked a bit like Ernest Hemingway” walked in to her business with his portfolio.
“He introduced himself (saying), ‘Hello, I am Bill Johnston. I’m an artist who draws naked ladies. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.'” Schmuckal recalled in an email.
That led to a good laugh, but the gallery owners were quickly impressed when they saw Johnston’s work.
“The work itself was impeccable, and, the titles, as Bill explained, had nothing to do with the women in the work — each title was a description of the piece of furniture or ornament that the model was perched upon or wearing, further illustrating that the artist himself had a great and wry sense of humor.”
Johnston also sold artwork at the now-closed Wild Rose Springs Art Gallery in Wayne. Gene McCormick of Wayne, who ran that gallery, remembered Johnston’s frequent visits to the gallery on his bicycle and his far-ranging interests, including a love of literature.
“I had a real respect for his talent as an artist,” McCormick said. “He was an iconoclastic guy, and he chose silverpoint, which only a handful of artists in the world use. It’s a very difficult technique and very unforgiving.”
Johnston and his wife also did some restoration work of oil paintings, including reframing them, his daughter said. Johnston was making silverpoint drawings as recently as this past spring, his daughter said.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Johnston is survived by another daughter, Annie Lesieutre, and four grandchildren.
A private family memorial celebration is planned for later this summer.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
