Select an alum from the list below, or scroll down the page to learn what some of our St. Olaf Art/Art History alums are up to:
Page 1
Emily
Silet, 2000, Art Educator
Paul Neseth, 1983,
Architect
Sam Chung, 1992,
Associate Art Professor of Art and Design
Beth Dow, 1987, Fine-art Photographer
Melissa Erikson,
1989, Landscape Architect
Tom Jacobsen,
1989, Senior Visual Effects Artist/Designer
Elizabeth Hauser, 1994,
Freelance Toy Designer and Children's Book Author
Krisin Solid, 1994, 3D Animator
Chris Strom, 1995,
Architect
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2
Opie Otterstad,
1992, Professional Studio Artist
Steve Gardner,
1990, Professional Studio Artist
David LaRochelle,
1983, Children's Book Writer and Illustrator
Sarah Ammentorp,
2004, Designer
Michael Braun,
1983, Art Director/Designer
David Carp, 1986,
Senior Designer
Kevin Ludwig,
1984, Signmaker/Graphic Designer
Scott Lindberg,
1992, Graphic Designer
Katherine (Broderius) Norrie,
1999, High School Visual Art Teacher
Class of 2000
Job Title: Art Educator
After graduating from St. Olaf with an Art History major, I
moved to San Francisco where I worked as the Operations Manager
of a retail art gallery. After two years, I decided I wanted something
more educational in its mission, and went to graduate school at
Tufts University, where I received an M.A. in Art History and a
certificate in Museum Studies. I am currently an art educator at
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where I work with a program called
Artful Adventures. Artful Adventures
was developed to expose children (pre-K through 12th grade) from
a variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to the museum's
collection through tailor-written lesson plans and art projects.
Emily's St. Olaf Experience:
My post-St. Olaf experiences were definitely shaped by my time on
The Hill, from my desire to give back to the community to my drive
to pursue my dream career. The nurturing environment that St. Olaf
provided gave me the encouragement and education I needed to pursue
an advanced degree and land a job at one of the premier art museums
in the country.
Job Title: Architect
Check out my business website page - (http://locusarchitecture.com/about_us/paulneseth.html)
for the bio and photo.
Paul's St. Olaf Experience:
As I look back at my St Olaf career, the two most important things
that it provided was: 1. a safe and stimulating place to grow up
and 2. a learning culture focussed on global issues. This instilled
in me a great desire to travel as I left school and now, as I wallow
in a heavy dose of mid-life crisis, bubbles up as a desire to redirect
my efforts to those in need. St Olaf was a crucial step to instill
in me a sense of responsibility for myself and others. One can't
ask for more.
Job Title: Associate Professor of Art and Design, Ceramics, Northern Michigan University
Sam's
St. Olaf Experience:
It was at St. Olaf that I discovered ceramics. I was glad that the
curriculum requirements pushed me into a variety of studio areas,
and ultimately led me to the beginning ceramics course. My professor,
Ron Gallas, was an extremely supportive and encouraging teacher,
and it was through him that I became passionate about working with
clay. I also participated in the Fifth Year Art Apprenticeship which
allowed me valuable uninterrupted time to further build my skills
and portfolio. It also taught me to be a self sufficient, independent
artist. The month-long art interim course in Manhattan was also
memorable and eye-opening. I saw a lot of great art, spoke with
a lot of great artists, and heard a lot of great jack-hammering
every morning outside my YMCA hotel window in midtown. "I don't
think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."
Job Title: Fine-art photographer, exhibiting here
and abroad.
I am a current recipient of a 2004/05 McKnight Fellowship.
Beth's St. Olaf Experience: The small class sizes at St. Olaf enabled us to get the attention we needed. The faculty were engaged, well informed, and interested in the students. My times studying in England had the biggest impact on my life. I ended up returning (I lived in London for 8 years), and the culture at St. Olaf encouraged an expansive global perspective in all disciplines. My web site is: www.bethdow.com.
MELISSA ERIKSON, Class of 1989
Job Title: Landscape Architect
I am a practicing landscape architect in the Bay Area and have
worked on mixed-use developments, parks, schools, courts, streetscapes,
universities and private residences.
Melissa's St. Olaf Experience:
Landscape architecture is the perfect liberal arts profession -
it is a little bit of everything including art, geography, engineering,
horticulture, biology, psychology, sociology with a healthy dose
of problem solving and creativity thrown in. Site planning, land
use planning, schematic design, construction documents, environmental
assessments are all part of the profession and you can focus on
a variety of different interests within the field from grading and
drainage, to site design, to bioremediation, to habitat restoration,
to siting structures to minimize their environmental impact while
maximizing their passive or active use of environmental conditions
for heating and cooling, plant design, etc. It is an incredibly
varied field and St. Olaf gave me the skills and ability to thing
holistically and systemically, to think outside the box, to address
form and function while including beauty. I am fortunate to be able
to apply liberal arts daily in what I do for a living. I also think
having St. Olaf on my transcript helped with my graduate school
application (I went to the University of California, Berkeley) as
it is viewed as a strong undergraduate college. As a landscape architect
I am able to create art in three dimensional spaces that people
get to use and enjoy and I thank St. Olaf's art department for encouraging
me to pursue art in my daily life.
Job Title: Senior Visual Effecsts Artist/Designer
I create, edit and design visual and special effects for film,
commercials and music videos.
Tom's St. Olaf Experience:
The St. Olaf Art Department created an environment that
made you think about what really counts when you become a professional
artist: composition, color, creativity anddDesign. I went
on to get an M.F.A. in animation at U.C.L.A. and remember countless
times falling back on knowledge I gained at St. Olaf. I also owe
it to Arch Leean's animation course that sparked a desire to continue
in that direction. Today, I enjoy everyday of my professional career
and it all started at St. Olaf.
ELIZABETH HAUSER, Class of 1994
Job Title: Freelance Toy Designer and Children's
Book Author
Website: www.elizabethingrid.com
Elizabeth's
St. Olaf Experience:
I majored in Fine Art and French at St. Olaf and graduated in '94.
My first job out of college was writing the curriculum and teaching
Art to grades 1-11 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. After returning home,
I was accepted to the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC (where
I visited during the New York January Art Interim) and graduated
with a B.F.A. in Toy Design in '98. Since then, I have specialized
as a doll, preschool and girls' toy designer and now work as a freelance
toy design consultant. Although I have had the pleasure of creating
for lines such as Betty Spaghetty, Miss Party Surprise, Kinder-Garden
Babies, Winnie the Pooh, Sesame Street
and Dora the Explorer, my most exciting and rewarding project by
far has been the publication of my first children's book, Princess
Crafts, which came out last April. Pollyanna as it may sound, my
philosophy is, "Make every day sparkle!" and it was my
Junior and Senior Art Shows at Olaf, where I studied the art of
play and dress-up, that led to my career in both toys and children's
book making. What I loved most about the process of putting together
these shows was the freedom to experiment and the thought provoking
critiques with my professors and peers. The additional perk of studying
Fine Art in a liberal arts setting also inspired me to become a
much more well rounded thinker and problem solver which is crucial
in both of my fields.
Job Title: 3D Animator
Kristin's St. Olaf Experience:
I first discovered animation when I took
the Motion Graphics class my junior year at St. Olaf. Animation
is a unique art form that brings together elements from theater,
dance, music, visual art, writing and filmmaking: all strong influences
in the St. Olaf culture. My St. Olaf connections and the portfolio
I created in the Art Department lead me to my first traditional
animation job in Minneapolis upon graduation. Eventually my love
of animation drew me to Hollywood. On the advice of 2 St. Olaf alumni
I applied for, and was accepted into, the M.F.A. Animation Program
at U.C.L.A. My education at St. Olaf helped me thrive at U.C.L.A.
The ability to self critique, developed at St. Olaf, became extremely
valuable as I went though the process of making independent short
films. I finished the course work for the M.F.A. program and began
working on games at Electronic Arts Los Angeles. I then went on
to animate on feature films at Rhythm and Hues Studios. In February,
2005 I am travelling to New Zealand to animate on Peter
Jackson's latest film, King Kong.
The lessons I learned in college and the friendships of St. Olaf
professors have provided me guidance and support in my developing
career as an animator.
Job Title: Architect
TEA2 Architects of Minneapolis, a residential architecture firm
that specializes in homes around the Minneapolis lakes area. Formerly
worked for Ellerbe Becket of Minneapolis, designer of the Tostrud
Center at St. Olaf.
Chris' St. Olaf Experience:
I knew I wanted to be an architect upon arriving at St.
Olaf, but I was interested in art as well. The Art Department provides
an extremely soild design education; the beauty of St. Olaf is that
the faculty are very accessible to students. To know the faculty
personally and to be able to bounce ideas off them is unique. I
use the foundations of drawing, color, design, and architectural
history in all that I do now. I wouldn‚t have had the opportunity
to fully develop these skills if I had gone straight to architecture
school.
