Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
EW-681
Date(s)
- 1943-07-14 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Smilin' William (Bill) Mikesell came to the Seattle-Tacoma Shipyards from Montana about 18 months before this July 14, 1943 portrait. Although employed as a second shift welder on the ways, his heart was with his art work. He had been dabbling in oils since 1933 and had sold several of his paintings pre-war despite the fact that he had never had any art instruction. He found numerous subjects to paint at the shipyard and several of his paintings were hung in the welders' shack on Way No. 5. After the war, he planned to retire with his earnings and return to his brushes and paint. (Sea-Tac Keel, Vol. II, No. II, pg. 8; July 24, 1943 issue)
Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp. (Tacoma)--People; Mikesell, William;