Nall
Fred Nall Hollis, known internationally simply as "Nall," was born April 21, 1948 in Troy, Alabama. He began to draw at age four. He moved with his parents to Arab, Alabama. When he graduated from high school, he had never had an art teacher. Over eight books have been written about or by him. In 1996, the book "NALL Technique and Symbol" written by Alain Renner, director of Sotheby's Monte-Carlo and Paris, was published.
NALL has degrees in Art, Political Science and Psychology from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In 1971, NALL left the United States to study in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Salvador DALI advised him, "Draw from life, draw, again and again..." NALL has traveled the globe in his search of his artistic expression, living in Beirut, Lebanon, North Africa, Nice, India, and Mexico.
In 1991, NALL bought the Karoljy Foundation and created the "NALL Art Association" (Nature Art & Life League). This is a 9-acre estate in a valley west of Vence, France. There are ten workshops for artists and a museum designed and built by NALL. Not forgetting his homeland, NALL sponsors five Alabama art college students each summer at his France estate. There they spend time working with him. He recently purchased two buildings in downtown Huntsville and is remodeling them for his United States studio. He plans to bring French art students here as an exchange of the arts.
NALL fell in love with Huntsville in 1977 when he and his wife, Tuscia, were stranded here during a snowstorm. The next day, they walked around the historic district of Huntsville. He found a house on Eustis Street that he liked and bought it.
In 2000, NALL organized the "Alabama Art" exhibit, which highlights 13 artists from Alabama with different areas of their expertise. NALL did a portrait of each of the artists that is displayed with the individual's artwork. It took him two years to complete the portraits. NALL is seeking to let the world know that there is great art in Alabama. The "Alabama Art" exhibit opened in Montgomery in April 2000. In the summer of 2000, the exhibit was shown in the South of France, with the Governor and First Lady of Alabama attending. NALL had the chef from "Hot & Hot" of Birmingham flown in to prepare the food for 280 dinner guests, with 180 of the guests from the United States, at his estate in Vence.