10/29/2026
Yesterday’s WHO is it Wednesday was not someone we expected people to recognize, but she is someone we wanted to share more about, after recently learning about her from a local Springfielder. The image was from a November 1951 article from the Michigan Chronicle about an acclaimed ceramic artist: Myrtle (Henry) Hall. Although Myrtle spent much of her long life in the Detroit area, she spent her early years in Springfield.
Myrtle was born on February 11, 1901 in Berea Kentucky to William and Belle (Bess) Henry, who had twelve children, 5 boys and 7 girls. One of Myrtle’s brothers was Guy L. Henry, the father of Robert C. Henry, Springfield’s first black mayor and a longtime funeral director. The family moved to Springfield prior to 1910 and in 1919 Myrtle married William M. Hall, a World War I veteran, who was born in Springfield in 1897. The couple moved to Detroit in the early 1920s.
Myrtle’s first real job in the world of art was when she became an artists’ model at the Cranbook Academy in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She was the first Black model in the area and also the first Black person at the academy in any capacity. She blazed a trail for models and students of color who followed her. Her story was first shared online several years ago on the blog, “Cranbrook Kitchen Sink,” part of a series of little known figures who contributed to the Cranbook art community. Myrtle started working for the academy in the late 1930s into the early 1940s. A budget line item from 1934-35 shows that models worked twenty-one hours per week. She modeled at other art schools as well.
Myrtle was herself an artist and was a member of the Pen and Palette Club, Detroit’s first Black arts organization. She received an award for one of her paintings in 1935 at an exhibition for the club. In the 1940s she turned to ceramics and designed and opened her own pottery studio, a former garage. She was key to establishing the Arts Extended Gallery in 1958, Detroit’s first Black-owned art gallery. A 1994 interview with the Detroit Free Press talked about how she was instrumental in affecting change, pushing back against the Meinzinger Art School’s discrimination of African American students after World War II. She was spotlighted a couple of years ago on the social media pages of The Detroit Exhibit for her contributions to local art.
Myrtle continued making art for many years and lived a long life, passing away in 2001 in Detroit. She was an aunt to the late Belva (Ball) Bell and we really wanted to share about this artist with local ties.
