ARTIST STATEMENT 

I am an awe-inspired observer of nature, equally fascinated by the ordinary and the extraordinary—whether a tiny cluster of wildflowers peeking through the forest floor or an entire Northwoods lakeshore. I am often heard exclaiming “Wouldn’t that make a great woodcut?” while peering out the car window at a compelling scene. Even my garden’s vegetables yield colors and forms too delicious to escape my artful imagination. Most of my work is influenced by northern Minnesota, where I make my home.

Whatever the subject, my relief prints begin in my sketchbook or on my camera, where I try to capture the essence of what my eyes and memory first recorded. I often re-work the composition multiple times before transferring the drawing onto a wood or linoleum block to begin the process of carving and inking. I love being a printmaker because each block yields multiple images, yet each one is original.

ARTIST BIO 

Glenna Olson is a relief printmaker from Cohasset, MN, who was born and raised in the southwestern part of the state. After graduating from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, Glenna enjoyed over thirty years as a high school art educator. While teaching, she pursued several advanced study opportunities to enhance her curriculum. These courses not only benefitted her students, but also activated the artist within the art teacher. In 1996, inspired by a week-long printmaking workshop co-taught by artists Betsy Bowen and Becky Nosbisch, Glenna became a printmaker herself. Now retired from teaching, she enjoys more time to create.

Glenna’s body of work includes both woodcuts and linocuts and employs one of three methods to incorporate color into her prints: hand water coloring, multi-block printing, and reduction block. Over the years, she has participated in numerous juried shows and other group exhibitions in the Grand Rapids and Duluth area. She was recently featured in a solo exhibit at the Hutchinson Center for the Arts entitled “Inspired by Nature.” The Reif Center in Grand Rapids hosted her exhibit, “Printrospective” in 2006. Glenna also participated in two four-person shows at the MacRostie Art Center: “UNLEASHED” (1996) and the MacRostie Staff Exhibit (1999). 

Her work is in private collections throughout Minnesota as well as the permanent collections of Rainy River Community College in International Falls and the Reif Center and Grand Itasca Hospital and Clinic in Grand Rapids. As sole proprietor of Studio 1201, Glenna operates from her home.