In part one of a three-part series, HQ profiles talented artists in the Huntington area.
By Tamar Alexia Fleishman
HQ 58 | SUMMER 2006
Barboursville native Tim Hall is an enigma that draws you in. Standing at several inches over six feet, with waist length blonde hair and searching blue eyes, Tim is a wildly creative Greg Allman look-alike. His drawings, paintings and computer graphics are known worldwide. If you try to categorize him, you will surely fail. Though he is a graduate of the Pittsburgh Institute of Art, he remains loyal to the Huntington area. His art can range from fantasy-like to explicitly seductive, and yet his grandpa built the First Baptist Church with his bare hands. Hall’s two favorite art styles are completely contradictory as well: he goes for the vintage look of 1920s broadstroke pen and ink cartoons, as well as the full blazing acid colors of 1960s psychedelic prints. By day, he is the consummate professional who enjoys the respect of local businesses who hire him for his graphic design skills. But he is also a night owl who serves as in-house artist and set tech for the rock band Night Train.
“Night Train is my main base of expression. I meet so many people at bars with them. We work with so many businesses,” Tim is quick to point out.
He is able to develop his skills as a sketch artist, painter and web designer through the band.
Though people around the globe enjoy his cartoons, just like racy filmmaker John Waters, Tim does not let his family view his work.
“I don’t let them see it. My parents are very religious,” he explains. “I was a Bible studier until junior high. I guess I’m trying to rebel.”
But his hometown values run deep — no tattoos for this artist, for example. Tim Hall grew up a straight-A student in his high school’s gifted and talented program.
“I got all my math and science classes out of the way in two years,” he says. “The last two years I took four periods of graphic arts, including pottery and logo design.”
He definitely feels his Huntington roots affect his art.
“We’re smack dab in the middle of country music, southern rock, bluegrass and Appalachian culture. It affects me against my will,” he says laughing. “But I came back here to get away from city life.”
With his noncommercial creations, Tim injects three aspects: “Every painting of mine has sexual connotations, religion and death. It’s important to shock people, to explode in their face. There’s not always a market for it because some people like their art safe or conservative. Now, I love Norman Rockwell, his stuff is great, but not all art should be like Norman Rockwell’s. There’s a giant world out there and people need to be exposed to it,” he asserts.
Interestingly, Tim Hall has a more conservative view as to the NEA. “Arts funding is important, it lets people know about art they wouldn’t have known. But artists don’t necessarily have to do it for a living. I agree with my doing it on my own. I have never asked for a grant,” he says pointedly.
So, how does a free spirit like Tim work with the conservative local business community?
“For them, I am a resource to help them succeed,” he explains. “A good logo and memorable advertising materials can make all the difference for a business. And I love deadlines and pressure!”
Tim Hall can be reached by contacting Tamar Fleishman at 410-685-5553.
Vernon F. Howell is a Huntington area native who loves challenging stereotypes. In fact, his whole life has changed the way people think of artists. This is a man who played football for both Syracuse and Marshall University.
Howell earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Marshall. Still later in life, he returned to the university as an art teacher. His artistic specialties include wood sculptures, photography, painting and special mixed media layered collages. He is fresh, modern, inventive — and proud to be celebrating his 70th birthday.
Howell has won many national awards and his work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institute and the White House. Corporate collections that pride themselves with owning a Vernon Howell masterpiece include Huntington Federal, the Veterans Administration and WSAZ television.
So, with his travels and national accolades, what does he love best about Huntington that keeps him here?
“Everything!” he exclaims. “I do urban landscapes of Huntington and the surrounding region. I’m not really a homebody and enjoy the great outdoors. My passions are hunting and fishing, and I always take a camera and a little sketch pad when I go out.”
Are people surprised to hear this talented artist talk about his background in football?
“A little,” he admits. “But there were four or five artists on the football team when I was at Marshall. It was an easy major, but some of them were really good!”
Howell feels that being a former football player helped him reach out to all kinds of kids as an art teacher.
Howell has special insight into to the process of getting your artwork exhibited in the business world.
“Most companies have a certain amount in the budget for art. If you have an agent, which I know sounds highfalutin’, they want something that makes the client comfortable, like a rural scene. Banks have ’em and they hang them where there’s lots of foot traffic.”
Howell is ever-evolving his latest art creation, the mixed-media collage. Each work has at least four layers. The works play on his love of windows and architecture and look different from every person’s perspective.
“I want people to look through and figure out how I got my sense of design. Somehow, they see more than I saw.”
Vernon Howell may be contacted by e-mail at vhowell2 l [email protected].
