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
Page
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
Page 3
Job Title: Freelance cartoonist, illustrator, animator
Sutton Impact Studio Inc.
www.suttonimpactstudio.com
wardsutton@aol.com
Wards's St. Olaf Experience:
My St. Olaf education gave me an incredible launching pad into my
career. It taught me that I can try and do anything and that's what
I've done as my career continues to evolve. I went on the NYC Interim
and 8 years later I moved to NYC. Now I am one of the artists that
students visit each year. The first year I was here I re-read my
final paper from that Interim and realized I was doing exactly what
I hoped to do back then. In addition to the excellent professors
and classes, St. Olaf also offers so many opportunities for anyone
interested in going after them. Have a show of your work in the
Library! Create illustrations or cartoons for the Messenger! Use
the facilities to work on a computer or photo project! It only gets
harder in the real world so use your creative mind on the hill to
find interesting ways to use your creativity. Create opportunities
for yourself. The best way to take advantage of St. Olaf is to not
take anything for granted. Of course, the other great thing about
my St. Olaf education is that it was well-rounded and taught me
how to not only be a good artist but a good citizen with a conscience
about the world around us. This is a big difference that I've noticed
from those who went to an art school here on the East Coast.
BOB
KOONS, Class of 1992
Job Title: Artist,
Faculty, Art Institute Online
I continue to work
as a practicing artist. Examples of my work can be found at www.bobkoons.com.
As faculty with AiO I work to deliver a curriculum in an online
environment teaching primarily foundations courses and also a graduation
portfolio class to help prepare students for a career in design
related fields.
Bob's St. Olaf Experience:
The liberal arts aspect of my St. Olaf education gave me a balanced
background allowing me to adapt to various job markets and support
my practice as an artist. The focus on art as a major gave me a
love for art and an aspiration to pass the information on to others.
By far the most beneficial aspect was the learning community. The
ideas and advice from peers and faculty, still help to inform my
daily navigation through art and life.
Job Title: MCAD Service Bureau Coordinator/Comics
Creator and Publisher
Currently I wear two hats. At MCAD I manage and oversee the
operation of the Service Bureau, our on-campus print and copy center.
I spend the large part of my day working with students, faculty,
and staff in outputting print-based projects, ranging from graphic
design posters to banner-sized photo prints, to student handbooks,
and everything in between. Basically I help facilitate the completion
of print-related work - from output to assisting with scanning and
delivering workshops on software use and other technical issues.
I also have my own small publishing business. I conceive of, write,
and draw my own comics and graphic novels. As the publisher I also
handle the printing, marketing, and distribution. This summer I
will be publishing my third book, Stylish Vittles: Fare
Thee Well, and in the fall I will be debuting a continuing,
ongoing comic book series. To help subsidize the publishing I also
do a bit of freelance illustration for clients that have ranged
from other book publishers to video game developers. Fun!
Tyler's's St. Olaf Experience:
More than anything St. Olaf fostered my love of learning - I was
able to take a wide variety of classes that filled the desire to
just learn about as many different things as I could. And I think
that spirit of learning drives you to seek out new things and also
teaches you critical thinking. Having a true liberal arts education
also reinforced a holistic view of looking at the world. That comes
into play in the work I do at MCAD, where I try to stress to my
student staff and the students in general to look at issues from
all angles. Because the students I work with are primarily designers
they are being well prepared to go out into the world with great
creative skills, but I find that a lot of designers, and computer
users in general, don't have the technical knowledge that can really
help in trouble shooting problems, or in avoiding those problems
to begin with, or in understanding why something is the way that
it is. The more knowledge you have at your disposal, the better
you are able to problem solve, and
technical know-how can sometimes even inform or assist creative
problem solving.
In terms of my comics career, St. Olaf definitely helped me along that path. When I was a freshman I wasn't totally sold on a career as an artist - my first year on the hill showed me how much I loved art and how dedicated I was to my art classes. Advice and encouragement from faculty and fellow students furthered my determination and resolve to do what I was supposed to do with my artistic abilities. It also really helped to have the faculty as an example - to see how it was possible to make a living and career as an artist - something that seemed kind of abstract before college. I also have to say that going to New York was a big influence on me as well - I did the New York Art Interim my sophomore year and it just really opened my eyes to the art world and all of the different ways you can make a living with art. It truly helped to meet artists and people in the art field to hear how they got to where they were, and see the in's and out's of the art world. More than anything though, I think it was the sense of community that St. Olaf, and the art department in particular,helped foster - I felt very much at home there, and because of that, I felt free to explore and push myself with my artwork. It was an invaluable experience that I treasure very dearly.
TIMOTHY
FRERICHS, Class of 1988
Job Title: Associate
Professor of Art
I am an Associate Professor of Art at Central College. 
I
Teach all levels of drawing, printmaking, and painting.
Timothy's St. Olaf Experience:
My St. Olaf education remains a crucial element of who I am and
what I do. I continually draw on the broad liberal arts background
for my professional work as well as my personal interests. I was
fortunate to participate in the several Off-campus study programs
while at St. Olaf. Through the New York Interim course (a fantastic
opportunity and program) I was enabled a incredible experience of
art, professional artists, and having my eyes opened to the all
the possibilities available in the visual arts. I also studied abroad
for a semester in Paderborn, Germany. These experiences opened doors
for further studies and grants including a Fulbright scholarship
to Germany and an American-Scandinavian fellowship to Sweden. I
am truly grateful to St. Olaf College and the excellent quality
that the St Olaf experience espouses.
ANDREW
SHEIE, Class of 1995
(apprentice, 1996)
Job Title: Landscape
Designer
Landscape Designer, www.murase.com,
Murase Associates, Portland Oregon
Timothy's St. Olaf Experience:
One of my professors in graduate school said, "A landscape
architect needs to know a little bit about a lot of things."
Such is the nature of the profession; it is a field in which art,
ecology, horticulture, engineering, architecture, sociology, and
planning (to name but a few) all intersect in various ways. At any
given time I can be working on graphic design for a presentation,
building a physical or digital model to understand site characteristics,
sketching-out concepts on paper (both for details and grand site
gestures), drafting, or collaborating with stone/metal/wood/polymer
fabricators to build unique elements for projects. Where would I
be without my art major?
ANNA
S. ARNAR, Class of 1984
Job Title: 
Associate
Professor of Art History at Minnesota State University Moorhead
I teach 19th- and 20th-century art as well as seminars on post-war
art/design theory. After graduating from St. Olaf, I attended graduate
school at the University of Chicago where I received my masters
(1988) and my Ph.D. (2000).
Anna's St. Olaf Experience:
I have had recent opportunity to reflect on this because I was just
on campus last fall for my 20 year reunion. I feel very fortunate
for the experience and the training that I received at St. Olaf.
First and foremost, as an art historian I value the opportunity
of having taken a lot of studio courses, I think it has provided
me with some valuable insight to the creative and technical process
of making art. I also found the January term in New York to be such
an eye-opener: Wendell introduced us to such a wide array of career
paths in the visual arts that it really got me thinking. Above all,
however, I value the "total package" of my education at
St. Olaf--especially the interdisciplinary and the international
emphasis of the liberal education. I recently received a $40,000
12-month National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to complete
a book on the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé. I believe
that the rigorous, thought-provoking courses at St. Olaf provided
me with a solid foundation in intellectual history and it opened
my eyes to the possibilities of interdisciplinary study.
Ph. D. Candidate, Brown
University, History of Art and Architecture Department
I'm currently researching my dissertation on British artists,
photographers, and images of Egypt in the nineteenth century.
Anna's St. Olaf Experience:
The passion the professors in the art department had for their subjects
inspired me to pursue further study in this discipline. I remember
the day I first sat in on Katy Smith Abbott's "Medieval Art
class˜I was hooked! I had been shopping for classes to take
that semester and her lecture decided not only my course schedule
for that term, but my decision to major in art history. Whether
it was Medieval, Renaissance, Modern or American Art, I truly enjoyed
my art history classes. My St. Olaf art history major provided me
with an excellent background for further study. The studio component
of my art history major has been invaluable as well. At St. Olaf,
I took both a drawing and design course and a photography class.
The experience of taking, developing, and printing my own photographs
has helped me understand some of the complexity nineteenth-century
photographers faced when crafting their images.
I also appreciated the fact that the professors in the St. Olaf art department were genuinely interested in their students. Their willingness to meet with me to discuss questions about how to research or organize a paper, or to help me answer questions about life after St. Olaf, made a powerful impact. As a teaching assistant now˜and perhaps as a professor later˜I hope to show that same interest in my students, that same passion for my subject.
