John Olsen received his Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Kansas City Art Institute with a major in Sculpture and minors in Industrial Design and Painting. He was awarded a tuition waiver and a student assistantship at Tulane University of Louisiana where he received his Master of Fine Art degree with a major in Sculpture and a minor in American Art History. Upon graduation from Tulane he began teaching Humanities Art, Sculpture and Three-Dimensional Design at Pensacola State College. While on a sabbatical leave he studied sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and then designed and constructed the Altar, Pulpit, and Lectern at Holy Cross Episcopal Church. His “Fantasy Fowl” sculptures have been exhibited in galleries in Washington D.C., Miami, Tampa, Tallahassee, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, New Orleans, Houston, Denver, Scottsdale, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Atlanta, and the American Embassy in Athens. Many of his abstract stainless steel sculptures surround the Visual Art Department and a colorful sculptured gateway adorns Long Hollow Park in Pensacola.
