Griep to deliver spring Mellby Lecture
St. Olaf College Professor of Art and Associate Dean of Fine Arts Mary Griep will deliver the spring Mellby Lecture, titled Descent Into Detail, on April 11.
The lecture, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Viking Theater, is free and open to the public. It will be streamed and archived online.
Griep’s professional work has been closely connected with her cross-cultural interests and travel with students. Over the past 18 years, she has created a body of drawings — the Anastylosis Project — inspired by sacred architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries from around the world. Her Mellby lecture is an exploration of careful observation and an homage to a thousand years of human creativity and attention to these particular places.
Griep earned her bachelor of arts degree in studio art from Macalester College and a master of arts in liberal studies from Hamline University. Before joining the St. Olaf Art and Art History faculty in 1988, she was a practicing artist with work in public and private collections, both national and international. As a faculty member at St. Olaf, Griep specializes in drawing and painting. She has been Associate Dean of Fine Arts, served as chair of the Art and Art History Department, and taught in the Paracollege.
A champion of international experiences for students and faculty alike, Griep has accompanied and led Interim courses in France, Italy, the Bahamas, Greece, and Turkey, and twice served as field supervisor for St. Olaf’s Term in Asia. She has been an artist in residence in the Dominican Republic and Austria and spent three years at the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture at Payap University in Thailand. She has also had residencies at the Ucross Foundation, the University of South Dakota, St. Catherine University, the Miles City Art Center, and the Anderson Center.
About the Mellby Lecture
The annual Mellby Lectures are named in remembrance of St. Olaf faculty member Carl A. Mellby and were established in 1983 to give professors the opportunity to share their research with the public. Mellby, known as “the father of social sciences” at St. Olaf, started the first courses in economics, sociology, political science, and art history at the college. He was professor and administrator from 1901 to 1949, taught Greek, German, French, religion, and philosophy, and is credited with creating the college’s honor system.