John Ballator

John Ballator was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1909. He studied painting and sculpture at the University of Oregon and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1934 at the Yale School of Art, where he shifted his focus from sculpture to painting. In 1937, Ballator finished the mural, Contemporary Justice and Man, for the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. Under the Works Progress Administration, he painted murals for the Nathan Hale School in New Haven, Connecticut; the Menninger Sanatorium in Topeka, Kansas; as well as Franklin High School and the Saint Johns Post Office in Portland, Oregon. In 1938, he began teaching at Hollins College in Roanoke, Virginia, where he founded the Roanoke Fine Arts Center. He taught at Hollins College for nearly 30 years as head of the art department.