Dan Olson — Paintings Photographed by Mitch Rossow

Dan Olson is a Twin Cities elementary art teacher whose relationship with the northern wilderness started at age eight, watching a bull moose from a bridge over the Yellowstone River on a family road trip. That moment led to night drives on the Gunflint Trail looking for moose, a high school spring break at Poplar Lake instead of the beach, and a Boy Scout trip to Isle Royale; all of which eventually led to painting. He began taking the work seriously around 2020 after discovering the Border Route Trail while researching the Boundary Waters, and has been building a sustained body of northwoods plein air work ever since.
He paints annually on the Gunflint Trail and the North Shore, has completed field studies on Isle Royale in 2021 and 2023 with another trip planned for August 2026, and takes classes through the Grand Marais Art Colony at Bearskin Lodge. He has studied plein air technique under Joe Paquet, Dave Gilsvik, Neil Sherman, Brock Larson, and Catherine Hearding. His influences include Howard Sivertson, Van Gogh, Tom Thomson and Canada’s Group of Seven, and Carl Rungius, whose dedication to painting Rocky Mountain moose Dan aims to bring to Minnesota’s own moose country.
His paintings move from small plein air field studies to larger studio pieces developed from those on-location observations — keeping the spontaneity of the original light while building in the depth and detail the studio allows. Originals are at Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais; prints and originals are also available through his website.
Dan is a member of Outdoor Painters of Minnesota and the Grand Marais Art Colony. He shows his work each year at the Rivertown Art Festival in Stillwater and the Grand Marais Arts Festival, and in 2026 is adding Spirit of the Saint Croix in Hudson for the first time.
Dan Olson’s website
Dan’s plein air field studies, painted outdoors in remote wilderness, often in challenging light, need photography that holds the color and immediacy he built on location. Schedule your own session →