Rick Mikkelson

Rick Mikkelson joined the art faculty in 1969. He was chairperson of the Art Department for 10 years and was professor of drawing and painting. Originally from the Red River Valley in Minnesota, he received his B.A. in art in 1965 from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. He received his M.A. and M.F.A. degrees in painting from the University of Iowa in 1967 and 1969. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Canada and is in numerous private and public collections.

Professor Mikkelson works in oils and watercolor and a variety of drawing media. His subjects consist of landscapes, figures, and allegorical still lifes. The landscapes are from both Spain and Minnesota; however, most of his landscapes are based on areas in the Red River Valley of western Minnesota, particularly Breckenridge, a small railroad town where he lived in his youth. While his drawings and paintings are very representational, his concerns are also with abstraction and symbolism, and the content of his work comes as much from the form as from the subject matter.