Troy native Nall Hollis started out as a banker. But the unhappy young artist received some prescient advice from then President Norman Pless of Birmingham’s Exchange Security Bank: “Don’t come back to the bank, and don’t tell your father that I’m encouraging this. Go to Paris!” Almost everything Nall creates is autobiographical, and much of his work is inspired by and celebrates the state he loves. He generously promotes Alabama artists. His book, Alabama Art 2000, features 13 Alabama artists, some of whom he discovered. Works by these artists are displayed throughout his historic Fairhope residence located on a scenic overlook of Mobile Bay. Art patrons Jim and Elmore Inscoe hosted a dinner party for...