William Talmadge Hall

I’m now 76 years old. I’ve had a lucky life.

My trajectory through growing up has been oddly special. A boy with a 4 generational connection to Block island, I got to experience the nitty gritty of a true Island life. I did everything my father did up to the point where he went into WWII. I caught Codfish with hand lines, I lobstered in my own Nova Scotia boat and went on many harpoon Swordfishing trips to see the last of those days.

From a one room schoolhouse with 5 grades to high school I found myself living on a farm in Rural Vermont. I Put up the hay in bales, worked the dairy cows and hunted for game in the winter. All along the way I learned the stories and lessons of those who came before. I became a story-teller, a collector - and eventually, an illustrator. 

The Beatles, The Viet Cong, the Astronauts and Mao Tse-tung, Joan of Arc Brigitte Bardot and Frida Kahlo were in my dreams and on my TV. I’ve had a life and that’s who I am. But I know now, through my art - I am not so special -  and I’ve never been alone.