Mr. William Johnson teaches visual arts. He holds a BFA degree in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University. Professionally, Mr. Johnson is a member of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , the Friends of African/African-American Art, the National Conference of Artists, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts (Artist-N-Education). Mr. Johnson is also a member of the Richmond Education Association and the Virginia Education Association. He has been a member of the George Wythe arts staff since 1995.

    In September, 1997 the University of Virginia purchased Mr. Johnson's monoprint, The Sax Player, as a part of its permanent collection. Mr. Johnson currently has a one-man show and agroup show at the University of Virginia. The University of Virginia has also requested, and received, from Mr. Johnson permission to borrow others of his works for display on its campus.

     Mr. Johnson is also a faculty member at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the Afterschool Art Adventure program. He is currently involved in a special program with George Wythe's Exceptional Education Department and museum personnel to determine ways in which the museum can be made more accessible and meaningful for special needs visitors.

     Since coming to George Wythe in 1995, Mr. Johnson has involved his students in numerous competitions and exhibitions including the Virginia Lung Association Poster Contest, the Metro Region Scholastic Art Exhibit, the General Assembly Art Show, the Metro Area Airport Exhibit, and the Carytown Art Exhibit. In May, 1998, two of his students earned awards in the Afro-Academic Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics sponsored by the NAACP-- Alex Livingstone earned a bronze medal for painting while Gregory Taylor won a gold medal for painting and a bronze for drawing.

     Mr. Johnson has been a willing worker on numerous school committees including the Audition Committee, Arts Student Orientation Committee, Arts Parent Luncheon Committee, Arts Parent Meetings Committee, Acart'n'me Awards Committee, and That Great Big Arts Thing Committee. Mr. Johnson was also instrumental in setting up the school's art gallery. He has set up many student exhibits and has plans now to invite community artists, parents, and faculty and staff members to also display their works in the Gallery.

     Mr. Johnson has brought many local artists in to work with his students. These include artist residencies with Philip Branch and Lee Hazelgrove. Dennis Winston and Leslie Messersmith of the RPS Arts and Humanities Center, David Gau of Video Enterprises, Inc. (creator of the Mulberry Place cartoon series that ran in the Richmond Times Dispatch), and Christaphora Robeers of the Hand Workshop are also among the professional artists who have supplemented Mr. Johnson's work with visual arts students.

Away from the palette, Mr. Johnson finds pleasure in playing basketball, reading, listening to and collecting jazz music, attending plays and concerts and, of course, visiting galleries and museums.