NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — We've always shared a lot of follow-up stories on NewsChannel 5. We like to check back in with people we've met for an update. Well, this follow-up is coming after 37 years. It's about someone who played a vital role in some places you know.
I happened to be going a NewsChannel 5 archive tape from 1988—That's when I came across this particular story.
"I live on this board," said illustrator Ben Johnson, speaking in the 1988 story while leaned over a canvas.
The 1988 piece featured Johnson, who at the time, was one of only a handful of artists in Nashville doing architectural renderings. He'd work with architects and hand draw what a building or construction project would look like.
The 1988 footage showed one of Johnson's renderings outside Belmont Church. The church was under construction at the time.
"I've had them come in before with a sketch on a napkin," Johnson said of the firms he'd worked with. "When I sense a real satisfaction is when I see one of my renderings somewhere, and as strange as this sounds, at first glance, I don't know who did it."
I wanted to know what Johnson was doing now, 37 years later. As it turned out, not much has changed.
"Keep in mind, we have a famous saying, 'If you ever find a clean and neat, tidy art studio, nothing's happening!'" Johnson said Monday as he again worked over a canvas.
He's now based out of his home in Columbia, but he's still working with architects and drawing by hand.
"Sometimes they even turn it over and let me design on the buildings," Johnson said. "I'm an architect who can't do Calculus! That's who I am!"
Chances are, you have seen one of the buildings Johnson has drawn. That includes parts of Harpeth Square in Franklin.
"You'll do the renderings, and then they'll get the budget, and they'll cut things out," Johnson said. "Harpeth Square is pretty close to a lot of the concept drawings. It changed the whole north end of the block. It was an area that had kinda been forgotten, which is hard to believe, but it really was the last piece of the puzzle to putting Franklin back."
There was a moment Johnson was uncertain if he'd be able to continue. It was the recession in 2008.
"I thought, 'I wonder if computers are going to be the end of me,'" he remembered.
His style turned out to be an unexpected key to longevity.
"There was a real market for these hand drawn sketches," Johnson explained. "A lot of my stuff will go before planning commissions, and it says, 'Oh look, we still have input into this', where when it's a computerized rendering, they think, 'Oh, you've already decided.' I'm kinda like one of those old rock stars that got popular again!"
It's actually total coincidence I found this archive story and reached out to Johnson in a year that's his 40th anniversary of doing this work in middle Tennessee.
"If you come back in another 40 years, I'm not doing another interview!" he laughed. "I don't think I'll be here for year 80!"
For now, it's been a time for reflection on a career that's allowed Johnson the chance to be a part of this area's story.
"I'm the age I could retire, but why?" he asked. "I already do my hobby. As long as the phone keeps ringing, I'm going to keep going."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Nashville's skyline looks drastically different than when I came to NewsChannel 5 in 1993. A lot of those changes have happened in just the last several years, and the skyline continues to grow. Sky 5 and several viewers have been able to visually document it. I love Austin's look back!
- Lelan Statom
