John Ballator Papers

Born February 7, 1909 in Portland, Oregon, John Ballator was an American artist, an art professor, and chairman of the Art Department at Hollins. He studied at the Museum School of the Portland Art Museum, the University of Oregon, and Yale University. As an artist, Ballator was most known for being a muralist and lithographer. His most famous work is the mural in the Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. that he was commisioned for.

He taught at Hollins for three decades and was chairman for sixteen. To children of other Hollins faculty, Ballator was known as the 'Mint Man' as he had a habit of carrying mints on him and giving them to his colleagues children on his way home.

John Ballator's wife was Nada Ballator and they had three daughters, Nada, Jeanne, and Mary Jo. He died September 3, 1967 in Roanoke, Virginia.