Thomas Albert Sills: A Pioneer of Color and Collage Born in Castalia, North Carolina, in 1914 to a family of eleven, Thomas Albert Sills’s early life was shaped by the rhythms of rural Southern agriculture. This experience—the vibrant hues of the natural world, the textures of earth and plant life—would profoundly influence his artistic vision later in life. Moving to Brooklyn at the age of 11 to live with one of his brothers, he bega…