FARGO — By day, W. Scott Olsen teaches English and multimedia journalism at Concordia College. By night, he hits the road, a night owl looking for his next shot.
He’s not a pool hustler or up to anything nefarious. Olsen’s side gig is photography and the latest example of his output is on display in the North Dakota State University’s Flakoll Gallery, Renaissance Hall.
A photo of a home in Hitterdahl, Minn., is featured in W. Scott Olsen’s show “Small Towns at Night.”
Contributed / W. Scott Olsen
“Small Towns at Night” is the latest collection of his night photography, which has also included overnight workers and scenes from the local jazz scene.
“Night is just evocative. It’s mysterious. I’m a great fan of film noir, a great fan of black and white,” he said on Feb. 11, looking at the show. “The mystery of nighttime is its own appeal. So if you can bring something out of that, then you’ve got something special.”
The show, which opened earlier this month, closes on Thursday.
Olsen also currently has a display of his landscapes at Fargo’s Atomic Coffee.
A photo from Park Rapids, Minn., is featured in W. Scott Olsen’s show “Small Towns at Night.”
Contributed / W. Scott Olsen
Some of the images are sites Olsen has wanted to shoot for a while. Others are scenes he stumbled across on his drives. Some locations are easily identifiable, while others are less so.
There are iconic sites, like the trainyard in Dilworth, the Nordic-inspired mural in Park Rapids, Minn., and a Peggy Lee mural in a Valley City, N.D., mural, next to L&H Shoe Shop.
Other shots look like they could be taken in any number of small Midwestern towns.
The image used on a poster to promote the exhibit shows an American flag hanging over a household doorway, with an overhead light casting shadows down. An image from Ulen, Minn., depicts a pallet of lumber on a streetside curb with a sign that says, “Make offer.”
“This is sort of sad,” Olsen said. “A bunch of building supplies out there. Just make me an offer, world.”
A photo of Front Street in Casselton, N.D., is featured in W. Scott Olsen’s show “Small Towns at Night.”
Contributed / W. Scott Olsen
A number of his works show street scenes that have seen better days, abandoned buildings and boarded-up windows. While it may look like these selections don’t show a town in the best light, Olsen said that looks can be deceiving. He points to a picture of brick buildings in Casselton, N.D., next to the iconic Red Baron. The structure in the foreground has boards over the front entrance, but closer examination reveals the site is under remodeling.
“This looks standard, but they’re renovating the whole inside. So, it looks like it might be derelict, but you can see the new windows,” he said.
While the night scenes are often quiet, devoid of people, the images still show a community, even if sites are not as vibrant as they once were. The only picture showing human activity is a foggy shot looking east on Fourth Avenue from Broadway in north Fargo, depicting a person in shadows crossing the street under diffused street lights.
A photo in Downtown Fargo is featured in W. Scott Olsen’s show “Small Towns at Night.”
Contributed / W. Scott Olsen
“Architecture is evidence of humanity,” he said. “You can see the community in the buildings of that town, even if the people are all gone. What I’m really trying to do here is look for those little bits of evidence of humanity that tell me something about the town. There’s a narrative hiding in every single image.”
Overwhelmingly, when he hears from people after seeing his nightscapes, they view them in a positive light.
“They don’t see it as being an indictment, it is just a mystery,” he said.
A photo from Horace, N.D., is featured in W. Scott Olsen’s show “Small Towns at Night.”
Contributed / W. Scott Olsen
Michael Strand, an art professor and the head of the Visual Arts department at NDSU, stopped in to introduce himself to Olsen.
“This was really awesome to walk into,” Strand said, smiling. “Cool. Just the poetry and the imagery. I just really love this exhibition.”
Anthony Faris, gallery coordinator and curator of collections at NDSU, said while the Flakoll Gallery often features student shows, bringing in Olsen and his work helps introduce students to working artists.
A photo of Central Avenue in Valley City, N.D., is featured in W. Scott Olsen’s show “Small Towns at Night.”
Contributed / W. Scott Olsen
“Scott’s work is solemn and quiet and beautiful,” Farris said. “We are very excited to have the work hanging in the Flakoll Gallery where our students can sit and reflect on the spaces that tell the story of our new American landscape.”
“These really are appreciations of the small towns, as far as I’m concerned,” Olsen said. “Each of the images, I hope, contains a narrative that reveals something about the town. That’s not booster club advertising, nor is it death and despair. Each of these towns has these challenges. Each of these towns has its merits.”
If you go
What: Reception for W. Scott Olsen’s “Small Towns at Night”
When: 5 to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday
Where: North Dakota State University’s Flakoll Gallery, Renaissance Hall
Info: This event is free and open to the public.
For almost 30 years John Lamb has been covering arts and entertainment in the Red River Valley. He started writing for the High Plains Reader in 1997 and moved to The Forum in 2002. He is an Annenberg fellow, an occasional judge for talent shows and food contestants and co-hosts the weekly “Gardening Together: The Podcast.” He’s rubbed shoulders with Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, drank with National Book Award winner Colm McCann, had coffee with Grammy-winning classical musician Peter Schickele and interviewed countless other artists, actors, musicians, writers and assorted interesting people. Contact John at jlamb@forumcomm.com.