Fine Arts Festival Collection
Mary (Sister) Augustine
"Summer Garden"
Gouache, 1967
LFAC #261
The first Fine Arts Festival at Luther College was held in April 1957. The idea was originated by the Wisillminowas (WIMI) organization to promote the arts at Luther College with events from the worlds of music, drama, art, and literature. Luminaries representing those fields were invited to campus. An important part of the Festivals was a professional art exhibit and competition arranged first under a former faculty member in the Department of Art, Prof. Ernest C. Schwidder (1931-1998), who taught at the College during the 1956-57 school year. The concept was then carried on by Prof. Orville Running, faculty member in the Department of Art and College Artist. He managed and promoted the Festival exhibits which finally ended in December 1968. The Festivals themselves had a shorter run, ending in 1963.
The goal for the Festival exhibits was to “establish at the college a cultural center for the community and to invite the showing of art works from which to purchase pieces for a collection of contemporary and local American art.” After the Fine Arts Festivals concluded, approximately 100 art works had been purchased for the College. Artists typically were invited to submit works who lived in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois. Art was also available for purchase by members of the area community.
Festivals were multi-event affairs featuring music and theatre productions as well as lectures and visual art exhibitions. Notable figures in the fine arts world were invited as speakers for the festivals. Well-known professional artists were engaged to judge the exhibits and award purchase prizes. These events were sometimes accompanied by concerts performed by Luther musical organizations and recitals given by Luther faculty.
The art works acquired from the Fine Arts Festivals form an important component of the Luther College Fine Arts Collection. Many of the artists represented in the festivals were in the early stages of their careers and went on to become significant professional artists and/or teachers. The Fine Arts Collection was greatly enriched by the art works of the seventy artists which were purchased for the College.
There are seventy artists in this collection. They are (A-L):
Aasland, LeRoy; Achepohl, Keith; Appelson, Herbert; Augustine, Mary (Sister); Baker, Keefe; Barrett, Mary; Beck, Charles; Becker, Alice; Benson, William;
Biorn, Paul; Brian, Fred; Brown, John C.; Cabalka, John; deSoto, Earnest F.; Dickhut, Daniel; Driesbach, David Fraisier; Ellingson, William J.; Fagan, Lesley; Ferlen, Don; Flor, Michael; Fossum, Sydney Glen;
Fowler, Clayton; Frankenhauser, Neil Paul; Freed, David Clark; Fuhri, William; George, Raymond Ellis; Goudie, Joanne; Hahn, Judith; Hart, Jeannine; Hyatt, Evelyn; Kaul, Marley R.; Kilgore, Rupert; Kitzman, Marion John; Knudsen, John A.;
Krisel, Harold; Lasansky, Mauricio; Leet, Richard Eugene; Linae, Mary; Lowe, Marvin;
(M-Z): Mahmoud, Ben; Malsch, Ellen L.; Marcussen, Robert L.; Matthews, Wanda Miller; McClain, Bruce; McMurray, James; Menard, Lloyd R.; Mitchell, Ramona;
Munro, Cynthia; Myers, Virginia Anne; Ogilvie, Olimpia; Page, John; Riseling, Robert Lowell; Running, Cyrus; Running, Orville M.; Rush, Andrew; Salveson, Douglas S.; Sampson, James T.; Sampson, John Frank; Schmitz-Jones, Gwendolyn; Schroeder, Lynn;
Sessler, Alfred; Smith, Paul R.; Snyder, Jared; Taylor, Nattalia Donna; Thompson, Philip J.; Ward, Robert G.; Wegman, Marcia; Will, John A.; Wolfe, Robert Jr.; Yeh, Carol Heimburg.
Ref: Bulletins advertising the Fine Arts Festivals; “College Inaugurates Fine Arts Festival” Luther Alumnus 27
(March 1957); “Annual Fine Arts Festival Scheduled for April 17-25” College Chips 76 (April 10, 1959); Fine Arts Collection files.
Fine Arts Festival Collection: 1
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Updated
10/10/2007
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