After Macalester

1970s

• 1979

  Nick Baker Swearer, ’79, is a bronze sculptor working in Connecticut. He made Iggy, a 40 foot long Iguana sculpture from 12,500 welded railroad spikes. It is owned by the Science Museum of Minnesota and can be seen at the riverfront entrance to the museum.

• 1978

  Amanda Summer Slavin, ’78, received her M.A. in Greek Archaeology from Washington University in St. Louis and has excavated on Ithaka and is a trench supervisor at Iklaina, Greece. She is the President of the Pylos Archaeological Foundation. She is an archaeologist and the author of Early Minoan Anthropomorphic Figurines, Washington University Press, 1983, and 100 Places in Greece Every Woman Should Go.

  Paul Shambroom ’78, is a photographer and associate professor of Art at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, NY, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Walker Art Center, and many others. His work is the subject of “Paul Shambroom: Picturing Power“ 2008, “Meetings“ 2004, and “Face to Face with the Bomb: Nuclear Reality After the Cold War“ 2003. He has received a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship as well as Creative Capital Foundation, Bush Foundation, Jerome and McKnight grants. He received a BFA from MCAD and is represented by Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis. See his work at https://www.paulshambroomart.com/

• 1977

  Rachel Fine, ’77, is a graphic designer, trainer and teacher. In 2000 she received an MA in Human Development from St. Mary’s University. She can be reached at [email protected] 

  Gerry Scott, ’77, is a Professor of Art History at the University of Oregon and a noted Egyptologist. He was Director of the American Research center in Egypt from 2003 until 2017. while there, his significant accomplishments included securing a number of highly important USAID grants for the preservation of Egypt’s cultural heritage and the training of future antiquities professionals as well as aiding the recovery of Egypt’s Museum of Islamic Art that was damaged as a result of a bomb blast.

• 1976

  Thomas Holman, ’76, is director of the Forum Gallery in NYC.

  Laura Blau, ’76, owns Blupath Design, a firm promoting sustainable design in Philadelphia.

• 1975

  Chris Baird, ’75, is a professional mural painter. She shows her work at Vern Carver and Beard Galleries in Minneapolis and Vale Craft Gallery in Chicago. She participated with other Mac alums in The 2007 ArtCar Parade in Minneapolis. She can be contacted at [email protected]

  Barbara Davis, ’75, is the editor of Taijiquan Journal, an international quarterly and the director of Great River T’ai Chi Ch’uan in Minneapolis. She received a master’s degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota. She has published several books, including The Taijiquan Classics: an Annotated Translation and translated Chen Wei-Ming’s 1927 book, Taiji Sword.

• 1974

  Mike Hazard ’74, is a photographer and videographer. He was awarded a 2019 Artist’s Initiative Grant in photography from the Minnesota State Arts Board. His photos of Hmong American farmers will be shown at The Gordon Parks Gallery at Metro State University April 22 – June 27, 2019. He was awarded a 2008 Bush Fellowship in photography and is artist-in-residence at The Center for International Education. He was featured in the August 1989 issue of Macalester Today.

• 1973

  Beth Bergman, ’73, owned and operated Wet Paint, a landmark St. Paul art supply store with an international online presence, retiring in 2016 after 32 years. (She passed the business on to Mac alums Darin Rinne and Scott Fares.) She is was inducted into the International Art Materials Association Hall of Fame in 2013. She participated in a group exhibit at And Gallery in St. Paul.  She received a 2014 Macalester Alumni Distinguished Citizen Award. Her citation reads: Raised a Presbyterian, Beth Bergman found at Macalester a shared commitment to community. A studio art major, she credits her professors with teaching her how to see. Now she combines those interests as the owner of Wet Paint Artists’ Materials and Framing nearby on Grand Avenue.  After a short stint balancing art and the corporate world, Bergman began working for Hugh Huelster, ’74, at Wet Paint. In 1984, she bought the store and began developing it into the landmark it is today.  Wet Paint serves professional artists, art students, and enthusiasts who crave the satisfaction of creating. Her extensive inventory of 35,000 different art materials astonishes experienced retailers, as well as the budding entrepreneurs who seek her advice.  A 2013 Star Tribune article wrote of Bergman, “Her longtime support of Twin Cities artists, work with local independent business groups and leadership in the industry’s national trade group have made Wet Paint one of the most widely known and well-respected independent art supply retailers in the country.” That trade group, International Art Materials Association, named her to their Hall of Fame.  Bergman has served on the boards of the Minnesota Museum of American Art and the Grand Avenue Business Association, and is a longtime supporter of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and the Highpoint Center for Printmaking in Minneapolis. She is a painter and was a founding member of both WARM Gallery, (Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota) and Metro Independent Business Alliance in the Twin Cities.  An active alumna, Bergman has chaired her Reunion committee, organized Reunion art shows, and hosted dinners for first-year students. She has been a valuable consultant and a generous donor to the renovation and expansion of Macalester’s new studio art building.

  Mary Griep, ’73, is Professor of Art and Associate Dean of Fine Arts at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. She had a major exhibit of her Anastylosis project at the Flaten Museum, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, Sept. 9 – Dec. 18,2016. Her work was included in the Law Warschaw Gallery at Macalester College as part of “Reunion 2013.” Anastylosis, a series of drawings, was on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ MAEP gallery in 2007. Her work has been shown in exhibitions including the Chicago Navy Pier International Art Expositions, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Plains Museum. International exhibitions include those in Thailand, Finland and the Dominican Republic as well as in U.S. Embassies around the world.

  Michaela M. Mahady, ’73 co-founded Pegasus Studio for stained glass She earned a master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota and was a partner in the noted architecture firm Mulfinger, Susanka and Mahady (later SALA architects).

  Patricia Olson, ’73, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, where she also held the Sister Mona Riley Endowed Chair in the Humanities (2008-2011). For over a decade, she taught a summer intensive course for the Women’s Art Institute at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design with Elizabeth Erickson. She was in the Law Warschaw Gallery at Macalester College as part of “Reunion 2013.” Past exhibitions include a solo exhibition and catalog titled The Buoyant Heart, at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at St. Catherine University in 2007, and “WARM: 12 Artists of the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota” at the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota in 2006. This retrospective exhibition is documented in the book, WARM: A Feminist Art Collective in Minnesota by Macalester Professor Joanna Inglot. She had work in the exhibit “Winds of Inspiration, Winds of Change” at the Hillstrom Museum of Art, Gustavus Adolphus College in 2009.

• 1972

  Cherie Doyle Riesenberg, ’72, was Curator of the Exhibition Program for the Macalester College Art Gallery and is a member of the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM).

  C. Michael Dudash, attended 1971- 72, produced illustrations for Readers Digest, TV Guide, and the movie industry. He created paintings used as posters for films such as Pale Rider with Clint Eastwood, Waterworld with Kevin Costner, The Quest with Jean-Claude Van Damme, and others. He was interviewed in the November, 2010 issue of Southwest Art magazine. His work can be seen at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, Settlers West Galleries in Tucson, AZ,  Robert Paul Galleries in Stowe, VT, and Art Obsession Gallery in Tokyo. To see more of Dudash’s work, visit www.cmdudash.com.