Walter Olsen

My professional history as an artist can be summed up by alluding to 45-years of service to thousands of General and Special Education Students on a National, State, County and Local basis.  As a Special Education Teacher, Principal, Director and Consultant with a hobby in photography, the Art of instruction easily coupled with my love for “fine art” and capturing of images for sharing with others.  My art is both historic and contemporary.  I have images capturing Uganda before Idi Amin and South Africa during apartheid (1961). My fascination has always been the portrayal of culture, families and individuals in their environment. My major in Anthropology and family history as a Penobscot Indian enable an unencumbered view.

With some Special Education students, it was always a challenge to comprehend their lack of comprehension; with Photographic Art, I am challenged to capture and communicate a treasurable though often fleeting image. Now, in retirement, I am privileged to be able to focus, in part, on sharing the thousands of images captured while traveling all over the world. 

We are after all just people. While we may be geographically distant from one another, photography brings us closer together and confirms our “mutuality”. A historical perspective is for my presentations, an important component. Recent photos have captured gardens in the Fall that have been part of a San Juan Capistrano landslide swept into the ocean by the Winter rains. Photos of the “Catch 22” movie bombing site in Mexico, East Africa before Tanganyika and Zanzibar united as a nation…These are images I want to share.

For a new artist, I would say what I have always told my students.  Intellect does not necessarily relate to one’s creative ability.  “You all have the ability to be artists in your own right. That others may not appreciate or understand your creations is not as important as your perseverance in developing your own gift of artistic expression.”

Thank you for the opportunity to share.