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St. Olaf College and Macalester College have recently divided a bequest from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), through the estate of donor Robert C. Leestma. While Leestma had no associations with the ACM, he nevertheless donated a collection of more than 200 prints and objects to the organization.

Flaten Art Museum Director Jane Becker Nelson explains how St. Olaf became a recipient of this unexpected bequest. 

“About a year and a half ago, I was contacted by St. Olaf President Susan Rundell Singer because she had received an email from the president of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest,” Becker Nelson says. “The ACM had received a bequest—a large collection of Inuit artwork—from the Estate of Robert Leestma. The ACM is not in the business of collecting artwork, displaying artwork, or conserving artwork, so they reached out to all their associated colleges to find an appropriate home for the significant acquisition.”

Eventually, St. Olaf and Macalester were selected to share the collection, allowing both institutions to expand their collections of Indigenous cultural production. While the most immediate benefits of the collection will be felt on the St. Olaf and Macalester campuses, the collection continues to be available to all ACM members.

“Because of their curricular offerings and broader institutional priorities, these two member colleges are the best stewards of this wonderful collection for current and future generations,” says ACM President Lisa Jasinski. “The ACM is confident that their careful stewardship will achieve Mr. Leestma’s dream of making this collection accessible to students and scholars on the campuses and at all member institutions of the ACM.” 

Most of The Associated Colleges of The Midwest Robert C. Leestma Collection works come from Inuit artists, including a significant number from the Kinngait (Cape Dorset) region on the eastern coast of Canada.

“We decided to focus on building Flaten Art Museum’s depth in Kinngait works, since we hold a small collection of outstanding works by Kinngait artists, including Kenojuak Ashevak, Shuvinai Ashoona, Simeonie Kopapik, and Kananginak Pootoogook,” Becker Nelson says. “This approach will help us tell a really rich, cohesive story about that artistic community.” 

Becker Nelson worked alongside Macalester staff to divide the collection. 

“About a year ago — in February of 2025 — Flaten Art Museum Collections Manager Krista Anderson-Larson and I met up with Macalester’s Law Warschaw Gallery team and some staff from the ACM, to begin cataloguing the collection,” she recalls. 

The college ultimately acquired 66 prints and two soapstone sculptures through the bequest.

Anderson-Larson explains some of the techniques used throughout the collection. 

“A lot of these works are made through a printmaking process called ‘stonecut,'” she says. “That means a drawing is applied to a stone, and then the artist carefully carves away parts of the stone that will form the negative space, creating a relief. They then use paper to absorb the ink on the stone, allowing for vibrant colors and sharp images.”

The acquisition not only expands exhibition opportunities at the Flaten Art Museum, but also opens new avenues for teaching and learning.

“We envision using the collection for education,” Becker Nelson says. “Several professors are already really excited to teach with the material.”

Assistant Professor of Art, Art History, and Asian Studies Christina Spiker has already begun planning how to incorporate the works into her teaching.

“This coming fall, I’m going to be running a course on global Indigenous art,” Spiker explains. “Believe it or not, this was in the works long before I knew about this bequest, so the timing has just been truly perfect.”

Spiker has worked with the Flaten Art Museum on previous classes, including her course Making Museums Matter, and the accompanying exhibition, Let’s Talk: Collection Conversations. She says working directly with museum objects gives students a deeper, more hands-on understanding of art.

“In the past, I’ve been able to have woodblock prints on view in the museum’s object study room,” Spiker says. “It’s a really great resource for students, because we’re learning about them and then they can easily go over and see real examples and practice. It’s always been a great joy to do that.”

Becker Nelson adds that Spiker’s class will participate in next year’s Student-Led Acquisitions Project, giving students hands-on experience in acquiring art and building a collection. The project will allow students to study Inuit artwork firsthand while also engaging with previous students’ acquisitions — creating a legacy of works acquired by students, for students to study. The works studied in Spiker’s course will come from cultures around the world, reflecting what she describes as a growing understanding of “global Indigeneity,” or the idea that Indigenous cultures across the world share common stories and experiences of colonization despite geographic differences. 

“I’ll teach the students about the Ainu in Japan, and I had already planned to include Inuit art,” she says. “But I also want to cover Tlingit art, Sami art — partly because of St. Olaf’s heritage — and Lakota and Ojibwe art, because of their prevalence in Minnesota. I also want to bring in the American Southwest by examining Zuni art. We’ll also look at the Maori in New Zealand and the Yanomami in Venezuela.”

In addition to the Leetsma bequest, Becker Nelson announced that the Flaten Art Museum will receive a $25,000 donation from the Smaby Family Foundation, funded by Gary Smaby ’71 and his wife, Nancy. The gift will support the continuation of the Student-Led Acquisitions Project.

Smaby, a longtime managing trustee of the foundation and former St. Olaf art major, studied under Art and Art History Department Founder Arnold Flaten ‘1922 and helped build one of the college’s first darkrooms on a $50 budget. He has also served as a visiting artist in residence at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics for more than 14 years. 

“The Smaby Family Foundation’s gift is a huge step forward for our acquisition goals,” Becker Nelson says. “The gift allows us to continue our momentum with the Student-Led Acquisitions Project. The project will take place in partnership with Christina Spiker’s Global Indigenous Art class in the fall of 2026.”

This funding will allow students to meet with contemporary artists, art dealers, and gallery directors who will inform their “pitches” for new acquisitions — making students key stakeholders in what art is acquired to be used and displayed on campus. 

Becker Nelson adds that the donations do more than expand the museum’s collection — they create an artistic library for students to learn from and be inspired by.

“At teaching museums like ours, gifts like Leestma’s and Smaby’s play a prominent role because we have a relatively small collection compared to larger museums in our area, like the Minneapolis Institute of Art, or the Walker Art Center,” Becker Nelson says. “Plus, we are so connected to faculty members who regularly utilize our collection to enhance their teaching, so the artwork really gets studied and enjoyed. It’s not just hidden away in the dark.”