"My art is the evidence of my freedom. When I start any piece of art I can pick up anything I want to pick up. When I get ready for that, I already got my idea for it. I start with whatever fits with my idea, things I will find anywhere. I gather up things from around. I see the piece in my mind before I start, but after you start making it you see more that

need to go in it. It’s just like inventing something. It’s like patterns that you cut out to show you how to make something—a boxcar, or clothes. Everything got a pattern for it. The pattern for a piece of art is in your mind; it’s the idea for it. That’s the pattern." --Thornton Dial and William Arnett interview, 1995-1996.

Thornton Dial was born in 1928 on a former cotton plantation in Sumter County, Alabama where his family lived and worked there as sharecroppers. As an adult, he worked as a metalworker at the Pullman Standard Plant in Bessemer making railroad cars. After the company shut down in 1981, Dial began to devote himself to his art. He was introduced to the art collector and art historian William Arnett in 1987 by fellow artist Lonnie Holley. Arnett, whose collecting interests were focused on vernacular art of the American South, helped bring Dial's art to national prominence.

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"My art is the evidence of my freedom. When I start any piece of art I can pick up anything I want to pick up. When I get ready for that, I already got my idea for it. I start with whatever fits with my idea, things I will find anywhere. I gather up things from around. I see the piece in my mind before I start, but after you start making it you see more that need to go in it. It’s just like inventing something. It’s like patterns that you cut out to show you how to make something—a boxcar, or clothes. Everything got a pattern for it. The pattern for a piece of art is in your mind; it’s the idea for it. That’s the pattern." --Thornton Dial and William Arnett interview, 1995-1996.

Thornton Dial was born in 1928 on a former cotton plantation in Sumter County, Alabama where his family lived and worked there as sharecroppers. As an adult, he worked as a metalworker at the Pullman Standard Plant in Bessemer making railroad cars. After the company shut down in 1981, Dial began to devote himself to his art. He was introduced to the art collector and art historian William Arnett in 1987 by fellow artist Lonnie Holley. Arnett, whose collecting interests were focused on vernacular art of the American South, helped bring Dial's art to national prominence. His body of work exhibits a wide range of forms through expressive, densely composed assemblages using found materials, which are often constructed on a monumental scale. His range of subjects embraces a broad sweep of history, from human rights to natural disasters and current events. Dial died in 2016.