Paul Olson, son of missionary parents, spent his early years in Colombia, South America, where he gained his first impressions of shape and form. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and Master of Arts Degrees from the University of Oregon and Florida State University, and was a college English teacher and a medical librarian before becoming a sculptor. He studied sculpture at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute and at the Contemporary Art Workshop, but much of his skill is self-taught. His beautiful and sensuous works are sculpted primarily in wood. These dynamic works are full of movement and grace: they appear to flow or to fly, and they beg to be touched. Some of his recent works are somewhat kinetic with a horizontal piece just balanced on the main bottom form.  Of his semi-abstract works, Paul says:  “I want to suggest forms and feelings but not to name them directly. I like the ambiguity and the mystery and I want different people to have unique responses depending on their experiences–the mystery is crucial.”
Paul was Best of Show winner in the 2017 Society of Minnesota Sculptors Show, and Honorable Mention winner in the 2019 Show.