Nall

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Fred Nall Hollis (born April 21, 1948 in Troy, Pike County; died September 14, 2024 in Fairhope, Baldwin County) was an artist who worked professionally as Nall.

Hollis was the younger of two children born to Joe Frost Hollis and the former Mary Winfred Nall. His father, a former Marine, moved the family to Vestavia Hills while he was with Birmingham Trust National Bank, and then to Arab in Marshall County where he headed the Security Bank & Trust. Nall graduated from Arab High School in 1966, and then completed a bachelor of arts with a major in fine art and minors in psychology and political science at the University of Alabama in 1970. He lived briefly in New York City before traveling to Paris to attend the École des Beaux-Arts.

While in Paris, Nall befriended James Baldwin, Prince Albert of Monaco, Catherine Deneuve, and Ringo Starr. He later rented a studio in Nice, and in 1986 purchased a home in Vence, in southwestern France. He was an artist-in-residence at Troy State University in 1991, and married the recently-widowed Patricia "Tuscia" Cole on May 18 of that year.

The Nalls soon purchased the nearby Michael Karolyi Memorial Foundation and converted it into the "N.A.L.L. Art Association," which opened in 1997. They also bought a large house in Fairhope. In 2000 Nall was artist-in-residence at the University of Alabama. He soon became involved in promoting Alabama artists for the Retirement Systems of Alabama. The Alabama State Council on the Arts honored him as "Distinguished Artist of the Year" in 2007.

That same year Cole filed for divorce. The proceedings continued in Baldwin County court for several years before Nall was ordered to surrender the property in France to Cole in 2014. He donated a large collection of his work to Troy State University, which built a Nall Museum & Gallery on campus. His gallery in Fairhope remains in operation as the "Nall Studio Museum".

Nall died in September 2024 and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.

References

  • Miller, Howard (July 20, 1997) The Huntsville Times
  • Cobb, Mark Huges (April 10, 2006) "The artist known simply as Nall." The Tuscaloosa News
  • Moore, David (March 11, 2009) "Mary Hollis' friends invited to memorial service Sunday." The Arab Tribune
  • Short, Cody D. (September 15, 2024) "World-renowned Alabama artist Nall dies: ‘Made the world more beautiful’." AL.com
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