Norma Bassett Hall
1888 - 1957
Norma Bassett Hall painted with watercolor and occasionally in oil, though she is best known as a printmaker. She used up to seven woodblocks for each print. As well as using opaque, bold oil-based colors, Bassett Hall spent a year learning Japanese woodblock printing techniques from Mabel Royds, offering softer, more translucent colors with water-based ink.
Born in Halsley, Oregon, Hall studied at The Portland Art Association as well as the Chicago Art Institute. In 1922, she married Arthur Hall, a fellow student, and artist, and the couple moved to El Dorado, Kansas. In the 1930s, the Halls established a group called the Prairie Printmakers, along with several well-known printmakers, including C.A. Seward and Birger Sandzén.
In 1944, the Halls settled Santa Fe where they lived and worked on Canyon Road in a home once owned by Gerald Cassidy. In 1950, the couple moved to Alcalde, New Mexico, where they ran an art school. Bassett Hall remained in Alcalde, teaching, and printing, until her death in 1957.
