Growing up on a dairy farm not far from Drake, Olson graduated from high school in 1973. With the ambition to be a teacher, she started her journey at Minot State Teachers College with a major in English and a minor in psychology.

“Because, you know, English is something that every school needs,” Olson said.

The only thing that interested her about English literature, though, was the creative aspect of it, being able to put thoughts and feelings into words and create whatever came to mind. She had not yet begun her journey into the world of art, as her high school did not have any art classes available at the time.

While attending college, she took a “lifelong lesson” class to learn how to operate and take photos with a 35mm film camera. She enjoyed it so much that she decided to share it with her mentor, Walter Piehl.

Submitted Photo “Blue Peonies” is a porcelain plate sculpted by Linda Olson, the ceramics professor from Minot State University. It was part of the exhibition tour, Museum Inspirations, which ended in January.

She said he told her if she wanted to “take good pictures,” she should take a design class. She did as he suggested and wanted to add an art concentration to her degree upon finding a new passion.

The design class was the first thing in a long while that had posed more questions than answers for Olson. Some of those questions had more than one correct answer, but some answers were better than others.

She then took ceramics with professor Tom Willis and added an art minor.

She had taken so many classes that she was close to fulfilling the requirements of a bachelor’s degree in psychology, so she picked up a third major.

Soon after, she ended up triple-majoring in English, art and psychology. She received her bachelor’s degrees in the science of education in art and English, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology in just five years’ time.

Submitted Photo The piece titled “Three Sisters” is made of porcelain and handcrafted by Minot State University ceramics professor Linda Olson. It was on display during the Museum Inspiration exhibition tour.

With her first degree in hand, she taught at a small rural school nearby. Upon being hired, she had the choice to either be an English teacher or be an art teacher. Of course, she chose art.

She recalled teaching 107 students one year and 113 the next year.

Those two years still left her feeling like she wanted to do something more, so she decided to go back to school at the University of Montana in Missoula, where she earned her master’s degree in the fine arts for ceramic sculpture.

Her education path did not end there. Olson traveled across North Dakota to Grand Forks, where she earned a master’s degree in ceramic sculpture.

Her mentor teacher asked her if she wanted to be famous when she was done with school, and her answer was “no.” She preferred to teach at a college much like MSU, where the class sizes were smaller and there were more personal relationships between faculty members.

Upon hearing of Olson’s graduation, Piehl reached out to her and she said he told her to apply for a job at MSU. Again, following his advice, she applied and was hired on a one-year temporary contract in 1990.

In the early 2000s, she was hired as a tenure track faculty member. Once Willis retired, Olson took over as the ceramics professor and has been sharing her love of working with clay for 20 years.

While working as a faculty member, she was strongly encouraged to do a bulk of her creating where her students could see. For more than 20 years, she made her ceramic sculptures and other pieces using the oven at the campus.

As the needs of the college changed and classes were added or dropped, the professors teaching them changed. Olson has taught every class in the current MSU art department class catalog, except the digital art classes. She leaves those for her son, Greg Vettel, and Bill Harbort, the art department chair.

With retirement now in sight, Olson will have to find somewhere else to work on her art. Keeping that in mind, she has already started to prepare her own studio at home.

Her love of ceramics goes so deep that she automatically gravitates toward it when she has free time.

She has experimented with other forms of art, such as drawing and painting, but she still prefers to make objects out of clay with her hands.

“I can recognize that I’ve practiced something more than others. I’ve always held that a person can be good at whatever they put their mind to,” Olson said.

Once her retirement is official, she hopes to do more traveling and get more involved with her district with the North Dakota Council of the Arts, including Pierce, McHenry, Ward, Mountrail and Burke counties. She also said she would not be opposed to being a guest artist at the college from time to time.

“At whatever level you do it, you’re still an artist,” Olson said. “The important thing is the benefits of (art). I don’t know that a lot of people really realize that people think of it as an extra or a frill. And really, the liberal arts, the fine and performing arts, are something that helps us figure out who we are and where we fit in the world, and what we should be doing with our life.”