Concordia College Professor Displays Photography at Hector Intl Airport

The art will be up at Hector International Airport for three months.

FARGO, N.D-  An English Professor at Concordia College displays the exhibit “Trains, Plains, and No Automobiles” at Hector International Airport as part of the ArtWORKS program.

A skilled photographer and passionate traveler, Scott Olsen has used all modes of transportation to embark on his long distance journeys except one.

“Train ride,” Olsen said.

It was a long time dream that inspired him to take a trip on Amtrak around the U.S. in 2019.

“Fargo to Seattle to Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Chicago then back home,” Olsen said.

It was just him and his most reliable sidekick: a camera.

“Trying to discover what the country looks like from a train window,” Olsen said.

Olsen was amazed at the landscape and geography you can see from a seat.

The byproduct of that trip would catch the eye of The Arts Partnership.

“He kind of keeps me apprised on what he’s working on and this intrigued me because it’s about a trip he took on Amtrak,” Director of Operations at the The Arts Partnership Tania Blanich said.

Six of those images now became an art installation for Hector International Airport.

“It just interested me to put art about travel in the airport and what does that tell you about where you’re travelling to and what those communities are like and what the landscape is like,” Blanich said.

Olsen says if you don’t pay enough attention, every airport looks the same, making it easy to lose a sense of place.

He says art in airports makes them unique to that community.

“What I’m hoping is that people say ah, this is what’s special about Hector field, this is what’s special about Fargo,” Olsen said.