Donald P. Olsen
Donald P. Olsen was an American violinist, educator and painter. He played the violin for the Utah Symphony in the 1930s, he taught art and music at Jordan High School in Sandy, Utah, and he became an abstract expressionist painter in the 1950s. Olsen died in 1983 in Salt Lake City, and his work was exhibited posthumously at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in 2011.
Early life and education
Olsen was born in Provo, Utah, on December 3, 1910. He completed his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University in 1935, focusing on music. He later pursued further education in art at the University of Utah in 1950.Teaching career
After his studies, Olsen taught at several high schools in Utah, including Provo, Lincoln, and Jordan High Schools. He also served as an instructor at the College of Southern Utah, teaching both music and art, and at the Art Barn in Salt Lake City. Olsen's student's include the artists Bart J. Morse and Donna Mae Peters Nunley.Artistic Contributions
Olsen is among the second generation of Utah modernists. His dedication to modernism led him to explore various contemporary styles, including abstract expressionism and minimalism. In 1955, he held a solo exhibition at the Salt Lake Art Center. Later in his career, Olsen's work evolved toward geometric purism, drawing inspiration from artists like Piet Mondrian.In 1954, Olsen studied under Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which influenced his artistic development. He frequently visited New York, engaging with prominent abstract expressionist painters of the time, and then brought that new ideology back to Utah.