Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey [Hardcover]

Jeff Moses (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1929175051 | ISBN-13: 978-1929175055 | Publication Date: March 15, 2000 | Edition: 1ST

In his ribald autobiography, Hallam, an internationally famous artist living on Nantucket Island, leads us on a delightful journey through his artistic escapades in England, France, Italy, and the United States.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

On a cold, snowy day in the early seventies, aspiring artist Kerry Hallam packed his few possessions into a dilapidated orange mini-van and left "swinging London Town" for the warmth and light of southern France. His Moon and Sixpence adventure would turn into a lifetime's journey--a wild and wonderful trip filled with madcap misadventures, triumphs and failures. In his zany autobiography, Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey, Hallam--now an internationally known painter--takes the reader along for a delightful ride through his life and times.

Well-written and fast-paced, Hallam's account of his maturing from idealistic folk singer to professional painter is told with such dry wit and ribald humor that we laugh with him through even the darkest moments of sacrifice and struggle. The story's locales--London, the South of France, Germany, America--are painted in vivid word pictures and peopled with a colorful cast of characters--some eccentric, a few famous, all unforgettable. Hallam wields his word processor as deftly as his paintbrush.

Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey is first and foremost an entertaining account of one man's life, but because that man is a perceptive, sensitive artist, the book is also an incisive commentary on society and its values. "Society in general," Hallam observes, "does not take kindly to creative people." After reading his sometimes heart-wrenching, first-hand account of the artistic life in a materialistic culture, the reader is prone to agree with him. Those who value the creative process will find Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey at once a call to arms as well as a survival manual.

Hallam tells his story in brief chapters consisting of vignettes and episodes, making the book a perfect read for free moments or bedtime--that is, if one can keep from turning the page to the next hilarious stop on his journey. For the casual reader and the serious artist alike, Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey is a trip not to be missed!

About the Author

Kerry Hallam was born in Derbyshire, Northern England on March 12, 1937. He attended Chesterfield Art College for two years, earning a scholarship to London University in 1954. He graduated with the National Diploma in Painting in 1957.

He served for two years in the British Army, where he was attached to the Black Watch and The Gurkha Brigade. In 1961 he returned to London, spending three years in advertising as a draftsman and designer. In 1964, he headed for the South of France to take up painting full time.

Hallam's ties to Nantucket Island date to his first American show. In 1981, he made Nantucket his permanent home and opened his studio and gallery.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 243 pages
• Publisher: Cote Literary Group; 1ST edition (March 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929175051
• ISBN-13: 978-1929175055
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,674,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatly enjoyable reading from first page to last!, June 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey (Hardcover)

Getting To Nantucket: An Artist's Journey is Kerry Hallam's lively and funny autobiography. Beginning in a frigid industrial town in northern England and ending on a picturesque New England island, Hallam's is a personal success story that engages the total attention of the reader as his perceptive eye and artistic spirit takes us from his dead-end job in London, to an accidental music career on the French Riviera and in German, followed by life as an itinerant artist across the United States. Like his watercolors, Hallam's biographical vignettes are vivid, memorable sketches. Getting To Nantucket treats us to an amusing account of an artist's evolutions; a series of hilarious predicaments involving celebrities, aristocrats, and steely-eyed gendarmes, along with a little light-hearted and insightful social commentary. Getting To Nantucket is greatly enjoyable reading from first page to last.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make that "six stars"!, March 28, 2000

By 

Jack Hobson-Dupont (Nantucket, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey (Hardcover)

I read this book because it referred to Nantucket---the place I now call home. What I hadn't anticipated, though, was learning from its pages that much of what makes Nantucket seem so special derives from what all those of us who discover it had to go through in order to arrive here. Mr. Hallam's tale truly is no mere "travelogue", but that of a journey, which both forms and reveals character by the sheer requisite of living through it.

And what a journey he describes! From the bleak, dismal North of England, Mr. Hallam managed to pull himself up by his bootstraps, shake off the dreary prospects of living the life expected of him, and embark on an odyssey of self-discovery through art and music. No matter what the circumstances, Hallam seems never to have lost a sense for what is sensual, what is vibrant, what is most human about the human experience.

Although the context of "Getting to Nantucket" deals with overcoming all of the challenges that daunted him, Hallam's witty narrative is utterly bereft of "doom and gloom". In fact, it is not only amusing, it's often hysterically funny. This is not a book to be read in a public library unless you are prepared to deal with hearing "shush!" repeatedly as you laugh out loud.

I wouldn't recommend "Getting to Nantucket" to my close friends... for the simple reason that I'll probably just get them each a copy. I will, however, have to keep mine in the car---so if I recognize Mr. Hallam from his photo on the dust jacket I'll have it on hand for him to autograph.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book, April 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Getting to Nantucket: An Artist's Journey (Hardcover)

great reading!