Bradley D. Hall

Bradley Hall has been an art student his whole life. He grew up in Granite Falls, and moved to Chicago and worked in factories for over twenty years. He was never fully satisfied with factory work, and took part time classes for art at different suburban colleges.

All this changed when he attended the American Academy of Art in downtown Chicago. Their teaching and classes changed his life. Their motto was “Draw, draw, draw, and when you’re tired of that, draw some more!” He did not graduate, but he learned a very good lesson in self-discipline.

He moved back to Granite Falls in 2002 and became a graphic artist for a local screen printer. He met Andy Kahmann at A to Z Letterpress in Montevideo shortly thereafter. Andy introduced Bradley to linoleum block carving, and printmaking. With Bradley’s knowledge of screen printing, linoleum block carving fit well with his type of artwork. Andy and Bradley have created a calendar together since 2008. Bradley was also the very first featured artist for Meander, in 2004. Andy and Bradley also collaborated on the first poster for the Meander Art Crawl.

Everything seems to have come around full circle. He is now the one teaching classes for printmaking. But says he still feels like a student. He noted that when you live as an artist, you are always studying the world around you, and trying to interpret what you see. He also believes that you learn as much from your students, as they do from you. Bradley hopes to continue learning and teaching for may years.