Airen Hall
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withoutaladder.bsky.social
Airen Hall
@withoutaladder.bsky.social
580 followers 320 following 280 posts
Writer. Illustrator. Wild Feminist. Book lover. 1 wife, 3 kids, 3 cats. (She/her)

http://withoutaladder.com/portfolio/
http://instagram.com/withoutaladder/
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withoutaladder.bsky.social
Airen Hall @withoutaladder.bsky.social · Oct 9
Only a day late to #PortfolioDay! I create collaged illustration made of paper I paint and hand cut. I am especially interested in #kidlitart, but I also do private commissions.

www.instagram.com/withoutaladd...
www.withoutaladder.com
Cut paper illustration showing a young girl with a braid throwing her arms to the sky. Blue blossoms are scattering around her. She is standing on a stone wall surrounded by trees. Cut paper illustration showing children playing outside in the snow. Two are huddled in a snow fort, while the other three have snowballs in hand, ready to throw them. A red bird watches from a tree branch. Cut paper illustration showing three children at a lemonade stand. One is waiting for customers, one is carrying a bucket of lemons, and one has stolen a cup to drink herself. Cut paper illustration shows a girl in a red and white dress launching a lit paper lantern into the night sky.
Reposted by Airen Hall
clove.bsky.social
EVERYBODY CAN MAKE ART IT CAME FREE WITH YOUR HUMAN SPIRIT
February 6, 2026 at 6:42 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
Just a tiny bit late for #kidlitartpostcard! I create paper collages by hand. I'd love to work on PBs and covers.

#kidlitpostcardday #kidlit #kidlitart
cut paper collage illustration showing a red and gold hot air balloon soaring over a landscape with trees, fields, and mountains. Includes my contact info, www.withoutaladder.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
erininthemorning.com
Hey everyone!

Huge news! Our trans girl scout list has sold a total of 146,000 boxes as of today!

But MANY trans girl scouts only have 20, 30, 40 boxes sold.

I just resorted our list to put those on the top.

Go get your girl scout cookies and make a trans kid's day!
2026 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!
This year, consider ordering your Girl Scout cookies from a trans girl scout to make their day!
www.erininthemorning.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:18 AM
Reposted by Airen Hall
ilhanmn.bsky.social
Abolish ICE.

There’s no reforming it.

There’s no compromise.

There’s only one way to rein in ICE’s terror campaign. Abolish it.
February 2, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
charlotteclymer.bsky.social
Democratic leadership need to be waking up every morning with the singular goal of matching the energy of the heroes on the ground in Minnesota.
January 28, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
cirthador1453.bsky.social
Great thread on the scale and hope of the defenders of Minneapolis. I hope all cities and communities can learn these lessons and come together in the face of this fascist threat.

Abolish ICE is the floor.
margaret.bsky.social Margaret Killjoy @margaret.bsky.social · 17d
I came to Minneapolis to report on what's going on, and one of the main questions I showed up with is "just what is the scale of the resistance?" After all, we're all used to the news calling Portland a "war zone" or whatever when it's just some protests in one part of town.
January 22, 2026 at 11:43 AM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
lol, exactly
January 16, 2026 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
akaharriet.bsky.social
If you are looking for a way to send support and love to Minneapolis
supplydepotmpls.bsky.social Sanctuary Supply Depot @supplydepotmpls.bsky.social · 24d
We are in fact DESPERATE for winter coats, waterproof gloves, and good boots. We get so many wonderful donations but it is so cold and the numbers of unhoused unsheltered people are going up at the absolute worst time for it, and we run out of coats weekly.
teammom.bsky.social This year’s team mom @teammom.bsky.social · 24d
The frigid Twin Cities temperatures will hurt the homeless; so do not gloat about the impact on ICE without also stepping up here:
January 15, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Reposted by Airen Hall
shannonhale.bsky.social
Now, more than ever, check out a novel from your public library, get yourself some snacks, and READ for pure joy. You deserve it.
January 15, 2026 at 7:15 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
Great idea to help show Becky and other trans kids they are not alone.
rosecasey.bsky.social Rose Casey @rosecasey.bsky.social · 26d
Want to do something *good* today?

Send a note of support to Becky Pepper-Jackson from WV, who's standing up to anti-trans bigotry in school sports at SCOTUS today.

All messages are approved by my friend Mollie of WV ACLU, so only positive messages will get through!

padlet.com/mkennedy243/...
January 13, 2026 at 4:35 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
I expected 2026 to be a rough year. Still. This has been a hell of a first week.
January 8, 2026 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Airen Hall
withoutaladder.bsky.social
2025 has been such a crazy year! Some really difficult times in my personal life. Some amazing moments with my art life. I created some pieces I am really proud of this year. I am grateful for the time & space I have to make art & for the lovely people who have supported me. #ArtVSArtist2025
A 3x3 grid shows nine different images. In the center the image is a photograph of Airen Hall, a middle-aged white woman with dark hair, looking upward. The other pictures are various cut paper collage illustrations: a boy with a snowdrop, a woman with a snake, a girl doing a rain dance, a dwarf by a waterfall, Death personified, a ghostly woman with a lantern, an Earth goddess, and a woman looking out to a sailing ship.
December 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
2025 has been such a crazy year! Some really difficult times in my personal life. Some amazing moments with my art life. I created some pieces I am really proud of this year. I am grateful for the time & space I have to make art & for the lovely people who have supported me. #ArtVSArtist2025
A 3x3 grid shows nine different images. In the center the image is a photograph of Airen Hall, a middle-aged white woman with dark hair, looking upward. The other pictures are various cut paper collage illustrations: a boy with a snowdrop, a woman with a snake, a girl doing a rain dance, a dwarf by a waterfall, Death personified, a ghostly woman with a lantern, an Earth goddess, and a woman looking out to a sailing ship.
December 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
kitboyd.bsky.social
Here's to peace this Christmas.

Phases of the Moon - Winter Song, a unique hand coloured version of my etching which I made into my card this year.
December 25, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Airen Hall
cirthador1453.bsky.social
Merry Yuletide to all, may the light beat back the darkness!
December 25, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
nicolechung.bsky.social
a very happy The Fellowship Sets Forth from Rivendell Day (December 25) to all who celebrate
Screenshot from The Lord of the Rings Appendices [3018] October 1 Gandalf leaves Bree. 3 He is attacked at night on Weathertop. 6 The camp under Weathertop attacked at night. Frodo wounded. 9 Glorfindel leaves Rivendell. 11 He drives the Riders off the Bridge of Mitheithel. 13 Frodo crosses the Bridge. 18 Glorfindel finds Frodo at dusk. Gandalf reaches Rivendell. 20 Escape across the Ford of Bruinen. 24 Frodo recovers and wakes. Boromir arrives in Rivendell at night. 25 Council of Elrond. December 25 The Company of the Ring leaves Rivendell at dusk.
December 26, 2024 at 2:40 AM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
Merry Christmas Eve! Whether or not you are celebrating, I wish you a stack of wonderful things.
A cut paper collage illustration shows a big stack of presents in brightly colored wrapping paper. There are three cats, an orange one sniffing a bow, a black one pawing at some ribbon, and a grey one hiding under the boxes.
December 24, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
jamberee13.bsky.social
Not making New Year’s resolutions, but pacts with ancient forest gods, alliances with scheming wizards, bargains with charming archdevils
December 22, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
monicabyrne13.bsky.social
YES to that last repost from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social. Relatedly, I gave this talk all the way back in 2018.

(Back then, ‘AI movies’ meant movies about AI, not movies made with AI 🥴)
I want to draw especial attention to the treatment of AI—artificial intelligence—in these narratives. Think of Ex Machina or Blade Runner. I spoke at TED two years in a row, and one year, there were back-to-back talks about whether or not AI was going to evolve out of control and “kill us all.” I realized that that scenario is just something I have never been afraid of. And at the same moment, I noticed that the people who are terrified of machine super-intelligence are almost exclusively white men. I don’t think anxiety about AI is really about AI at all. I think it’s certain white men’s displaced anxiety upon realizing that women and people of color have, and have always had, sentience, and are beginning to act on it on scales that they’re unprepared for. There’s a reason that AI is almost exclusively gendered as female, in fiction and in life. There’s a reason they’re almost exclusively in service positions, in fiction and in life. I’m not worried about how we’re going to treat AI some distant day, I’m worried about how we treat other humans, now, today, all over the world, far worse than anything that’s depicted in AI movies. It matters that still, the vast majority of science fiction narratives that appear in popular culture are imagined by, written by, directed by, and funded by white men who interpret the crumbling of their world as the crumbling of the world.
December 19, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
illuhaus.bsky.social
#Peace be with you in this sad #2025holiday season. #Hope you may find small #joy. This is from my old #Christmascards collection.

#childrensart #picturebookart #childrensillustration #picturebookillustration #childrensbookillustration #childrensbookart #kidslitart #kidlitillustration
A girl is carrying a Christmas branch with a dog and birds. Joy holiday card.
December 16, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
brandtandstein.com
Also, congratulations everyone who made something this year. A comic, a song, a film, a novel, a painting, a poem, a short story, a sculpture, crochet, embroidery, whatever it is. In this era of slop and theft, if you *make* something you are a shining jewel and I am so grateful for you.
December 11, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Reposted by Airen Hall
minovskyarticle.bsky.social
The handmade, human qualities of your work are more valuable than they've ever been. Don't doubt that for a second.
December 11, 2025 at 4:54 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
It was another fantastic #FolktaleWeek. I really loved participating this year and I'm so glad I made the time to do it.
#FolktaleWeek2025
A collection of the seven folktale week cut paper collage illustrations I made
November 24, 2025 at 11:11 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
Amen!
hels.bsky.social Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · Nov 24
You know what’s ripe for a comeback is the Wolves of Willoughby Chase series by Joan Aiken. Smart & non-condescending YA, fantastical without being fantasy, dark and Dickensian as hell, extremely lefty and anticapitalist, a full dozen sequels, amazing Edward Gorey covers.
Absolutely killer book cover design with two bundled-up Victorian girls atop a white snowdrift against a red sky, while freaky-ass wolves with red tongues circle below. The hand-lettering reads “The Wolves of Willoughby Chase / Joan Aiken”
November 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
withoutaladder.bsky.social
Final day of #FolktaleWeek2025: DAWN. I was happy to see this prompt because I had already been thinking of doing a piece with the Roman goddess Aurora and her winged chariot. Synchronicity!
#folktaleweek #mythology
A cut paper collage illustration depicting Aurora, Roman goddess of the dawn. She is standing, riding through the sky on a chariot with golden wings. She wear white robes and a golden sun goes before her.
November 23, 2025 at 1:39 PM