Orville Magnus Running
Orville M. Running (1910- )
"campus House"
Color woodcut, ca. 1974
LFAC #248
Fine Arts Collection Orville Running works: One
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Biography
Orville Magnus Running was born September 19, 1910, in Veblen, South Dakota,
to the Rev. Alfred Running and Julia Sophia Olson Running. His father was a
Lutheran pastor and his mother a teacher and musician. While his parents
were born in America, the family had ties to the Trondheim and Nordfjord
areas in Norway. After living in Montana and Idaho, the family moved to
Zumbrota, Minnesota, in 1925 where he graduated from high school before
earning a bachelor's degree from St. Olaf College (Northfield, MN) in
1931. He graduated from Luther Theological Seminary in 1934 and was ordained
in July of that year.
Running served as pastor of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Tacoma, Washington,
and Christ Lutheran Church in Chicago, where he renewed his interest in
art by attending night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1946 he
signed a contract with Luther College to "instruct in art and religious
education," and for the next 30 years worked as head of the art department
to build a viable art program at the college. The faculty senate voted
to institute an art major at Luther in 1957. As part of his efforts to
develop the art major, he expanded the faculty and equipment for the Art
Department. Along with Dean Schwarz, former Art Department faculty member,
he handcrafted 42 potter’s wheels using a design by master potter
Marguerite Wildenhain. He also helped build easels for painting and tables
for drawing. He oversaw construction of a kilnhouse and designed a press
that allowed the College to offer classes in printmaking.
In 1950 he earned an M.F.A. degree from the State University of Iowa (now
the University of Iowa, Iowa City) where he studied under James Lechay,
Stuart Edie, and Mauricio Lasansky, among others. He returned to the Chicago
Art Institute during the summer of 1956 to work with Briggs Dyer, and
attended the Art Students League of New York during 1956-57 where he received
instruction from Robert Beverly Hale, Louis Bouché, and Harry Sternberg.
He also studied printmaking with Malcolm Myers at the University of Minnesota
during the summer of 1957. On a semester-long sabbatical in 1972. he studied
under portrait painter Jerry Farnsworth in Sarasota, FL.
Along with teaching and leading the Art Department at Luther College,
he managed the Fine Arts Festivals, annual festivals for the arts at
the College, which extended from 1957-1966. These festivals yielded 100
works of art which were added to the Fine Arts Collection. As an ordained
Lutheran minister, he also taught courses in the Religion Department,
delivered chapel talks, and preached in area churches. In 1976 he retired
from full-time teaching, but for the next 10 years taught printmaking
part-time at Luther College, where he continues to serve as professor
emeritus of art and college artist. In 1987 Running was awarded an honorary
doctorate degree from St. Olaf College. He was married to Marjorie Olney
Running in 1934 for whom the Running Gallery was named, located in Loyalty
Hall. They were the parents of four children (Marit; George; Marjorie;
and, Kristi). Marjorie is a faculty member at Luther in French and Music.
His second wife, Mildred, died in 1999. Running’s brother, Cyrus
Running, the long-time chair of the Art Department at Concordia College
in Moorhead, MN, also has several works in the Fine Arts Collection. Another
brother, Paul D. Running, was on the Art Department faculty at Bowling
Green State University and also has works in the Fine Arts Collection.
Known primarily for his colorful and highly popular woodcuts, Running
is also an accomplished painter and draftsman who has created liturgical
commissions in wood and metal, fine calligraphy, and musical/theater backdrops.
His work has been shown in many college and university exhibits throughout
the Midwest and was included in a traveling exhibition of relief prints
organized by the Iowa Arts Council in 1970. For several years his prints
hung in the reception room of the American Embassy in Oslo, Norway. Generations
of students and colleagues have collected his work, distributing it nationally
to private collections and to numerous foreign countries. He designed
the interiors and liturgical furniture for six churches including Rock
Creek Lutheran in Nora Springs, IA, and Trinity Lutheran in Spring Grove,
MN.
Numerous art works by Running have been reproduced for College Christmas
cards and other publications. He designed the meditation chapel in Brandt
Hall (now a study room), altars for the Center for Faith and Life, Preus
Gymnasium and Valders, and the artwork that is on the planetarium wall
in Valders Hall of Science. He also designed the College’s centennial
seal and the book jackets for the college histories, Luther College
1861-1961, by David T. Nelson and Stability and Change: Luther
College in its Second Century, by Leigh Jordahl and Harris Kaasa.
For 14 years, he supervised the design and construction of the background
sets for the annual Messiah concerts (1946-1955; 1957-1960).
There are over 50 works by Orville Running in the Luther College Fine
Arts Collection, including several oil and watercolor paintings and numerous
woodcuts. Many of the works were acquired by the generous donation of
the artist or other benefactors while others were commissioned by the
College during Running's long tenure at the school.
Ref: Friedl-Putnam, Sara. "The Talented Mr. Running." Luther
Alumni Magazine. Vol. 34 (Winter 2001), 47-51.
Updated
05/11/2010
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