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Professor Emeritus John Maakestad to discuss Arnold Flaten at St. Olaf College Founders Day

CLE
November 8, 2001

St. Olaf College Professor Emeritus of Art John Maakestad will discuss the work of Arnold Flaten, founder of the art department at St. Olaf, on Tuesday, Nov. 6, during the college?s annual Founders? Day address.

Maakestad?s talk, free and open to the public, will take place at 11:10 a.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel. Titled "The Legacy of Arnold Flaten," it will examine the life of the late professor, sculptor, and pastor who founded the art department in 1932. Flaten taught in the department and chaired it until he retired in 1970. His artwork can be seen in churches throughout the Midwest and many places on the St. Olaf campus, from the "Art Barn," which he designed and built himself, to the quotations inscribed over the doors of Holland Hall and on the walls of Rĝlvaag Library. Brochures containing a self-guided walking tour of his campus creations will be available in the chapel and at Dittmann Center for Fine Arts during the day.

Founders? Day is an annual event celebrating St. Olaf College?s incorporation in 1874. Maakestad?s talk will be preceded at 10:30 a.m. by a community coffee hour and reception in the Crossroads, Buntrock Commons, and followed at 1:30 p.m. by a panel discussion in Dittmann 305 which Maakestad will moderate.

Maakestad graduated from St. Olaf in 1950 with degrees in art and English and later earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa. A member of the faculty of the college since 1956, he chaired the art department and the college?s fine arts division before his retirement in 1994.

St. Olaf prepares students to become responsible citizens of the world, fostering development of mind, body and spirit. A four-year, coeducational liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), it has a student enrollment of 2,950 and a full-time faculty complement of approximately 300. It is one of Money Guide?s top 100 "elite values in college education today," and it leads the nation?s colleges in percentages of students who study abroad. ? nja ?

Contact Carole Engblom at 507-786-3315 or leigh@stolaf.edu.