Up an’ Atom

＂Hal Olsen, [a] World War II nose art visual artist, known and honored internationally for his artwork, describes in his autobiography ... a critical time in his life as a young man growing up in New Jersey and serving in the United States Navy during World War II. ... Nose art, a form of artistic graffiti painted on the nose of airplanes, began to flourish in the time known as the Great War--World War I (1913-1918). During the World War II years, (1941-1945), nose art expanded in many forms to almost every flying aircraft in the American military and is still visible on many of today’s military aircraft＂--

Hal Olsen studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Art and has won numerous awards. His works are held in private and permanent museum collections, including the U.S. Navy; Museum of New Mexico, -Santa Fe; Roswell Museum, Roswell, New Mexico; and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Science Museum, Los Alamos New Mexico. He also served on the State Art Council and the Artist Advisor Commission of the Museum of New Mexico. His many awards include the Prix de Paris he received in 1961 at the Duncan Gallery in Paris, France and first Prize for his exhibit in the World Wide Nuclear Art Exhibition, Washington D.C. Hal’s artwork is featured in Galerie Des Mondes (the Worlds Gallery) John F. Kennedy Airport, New York City, New York; the Fine Arts Museum of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico; the Commemorative Air Force American Air Power Heritage Museum, Midland, Texas; Admiral Nimitz Museum, Fredericksburg, Tennessee; the National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Los Alamos Historical Museum, Los Alamos, New Mexico and the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam Other professional artwork by Hal, besides the Nose Art for the Navy and the B-29 Bombers during WWII in the Pacific Theater, are a mural, History of the Atomic Age, at Los Alamos National Labs and two commemorative coins designed for the 25th and the 50th Anniversary of the Atomic Age. He has been a Navy enlisted man and worked in Navy Ordinance, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He also did work at the Navy Yards and Docks in Port Hueneme, California. He later became a technical illustrator and supervisor for Las Alamos National Laboratories.