Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) A. Malcolm “Mac” Gimse ’58, During his more than 30 years on the Hill, Mac Gimse ’58 has fostered a love for faith, art, and teaching in a rich learning environment for students and fellow faculty members, many of whom have praised Mac’s ability to help his students reach for the cultural and spiritual meaning beneath the surface of a sculpture or other work of art. A National Scholar at Columbia University from 1953 to 1956, Mac attended St. Olaf for a year and became an honorary member of the class of 1958. “I was drawn to St. Olaf because of the Christian Liberal Arts, which became for me the Liberating Arts,” he says. He then earned his B.A. degree in philosophy and went on to study at the University of Iowa, completing M.A. and M.F.A. degrees in art history and sculpture. He was a National Endowment for the Humanities Visiting Scholar in Asian Art History both at Columbia University and the University of Maryland. Mac likes to combine his interests in art and teaching with his other passion — travel. His courses on World Architecture, India, China, Japan and Africa, compelled him to travel and study around the globe. He and his wife Jackie, collectively known by students as “Mackie,” have led some 30 international study abroad programs. Whether for a semester, an Interim, or with alumni Study Travel groups, Mac has bestowed upon his estimated 700 fellow travelers a sense of finding one’s place in the world. “Students and colleagues energized me with an intellectual view of the world, including enquiry about all religions, many forms of science and philosophy, and the arts of every culture,” Mac says of the St. Olaf community. As an artist and sculptor, Gimse has received many commissions for his work and his pieces have been exhibited and presented around the world. His “Mercy” series was exhibited at the United Nations International Conference on Tolerance in 1986, the United Nations in Geneva Switzerland in 1989, and in Poland in 1990; his 1987 sculpture “Triumphant Crucifix” was presented to the Vatican in the Pauline Chapel on behalf of St. Olaf College. The Nobel Peace Prize Forum has featured his bronze sculptures and accompanying poetry four times, beginning with “Striving for Peace,” given to Norman Borlaug and the U.N. Peacekeeping Operations in 1989. More recently, his fourth Peace Prize Forum sculpture, “Roots and Wings,” was presented to former president and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jimmy Carter. Mac spends much of his time volunteering at church, working with senior citizens and speaking to alumni groups around the country. Mac and Jackie volunteer at Northfield’s Used-a-Bit Resale Shoppe, the proceeds of which go to the Northfield Senior Center. He stays in touch with many former students, writing recommendations and offering career advice or helping alumni advance their artistic careers. Mac’s current art project is a 28-foot stainless steel sculpture called “Between Earth and Sky,” a gift to the city of Dundas. This is the initial sculpture in the ARTrail project, which seeks to build a series of sculptures along the river between Dundas and Northfield. As these communities extend southward, the sculpture will both welcome newcomers and help Dundas remember its mill-town beginnings. The winding down of his teaching career at St. Olaf certainly hasn’t ended his passion for serving others through his many talents and interests. He continues to embody the St. Olaf commitment to “liberal arts, rooted in the Christian Gospel, and incorporating a global perspective,” and he unselfishly inspires others to find their own ways to serve the world. |
