Julia Fobes (left) with Nall (right) in front of one of his iconic mosaic pansies. (Image courtesy of Julia Fobes)
My adventure with Nall started on the first day I met him. Someone I knew was acquainted with Nall and got me an interview with him. I had just graduated from Ole Miss in art and costume design and my plan was to move to New York and start my career. I knew nothing about Nall at that time, but I was hoping that he had some connections in New York and could share those with me. I brought my portfolio to his studio for him to critique.
Things didn’t go as I had planned. I ended up staying the entire day and Nall had me working on a few things. At the end of the day Nall said, ‘ I know that you have plans to go to New York soon but I would love for you to stay and apprentice with me. I’m going to my house in France in a few months and you can come there with me too’.
So much for my plans. I apprenticed with Nall for a year and a half and he hired me for another year. This time was filled with so many adventures, chaos and memories of a lifetime, such as this one…
My first morning Nall woke me and said ‘Come on, I’m not going to let you be jet-lagged. We’re going to Monaco to an AA meeting -just you and me- and meet my friend Richard’. By that time I was very accustomed to the AA program, although I was never in AA. I would go with Nall all the time to the open meetings and would enjoy them so much. So we were to meet Richard, go to the meeting and then lunch.
We jumped into the car and as we got to the meeting and Nall told me that it was a closed meeting so I couldn’t go to it. We arranged that I would meet them there in an hour. This was my first time in Monaco, so I walked around seeing the sites. An hour later, I walked back to the AA building and saw Nall standing there with Ringo Starr. ‘So this is Richard?’ Nall? He feigned surprise at my question. ‘Oh, did I not tell you?’ ‘Uh, no’!
The three of us went to lunch on the Monaco Harbor and then walked around. Nall being Nall, was on the phone, doing a million other things so Ringo and I walked along having a lovely conversation. He was just as calm and peaceful and kind as you would imagine. Ringo told me that Nall had given art lessons to his wife Barbara and him years before. They hit it off at that time and also bonded through the AA meetings.
You never knew what a day with Nall would bring...
Julia Fobes