Students studying art at NDSU will have an enhanced opportunity to receive scholarships and participate in international programs, thanks to the generosity of one alumnus.
Jim Falck, a successful architect, landscape architect and painter, gave NDSU an endowment and artwork totaling $3.6 million—one of the largest endowments in NDSU’s history. The gift will fund scholarships for students in visual arts and will also provide much needed funding for program development, faculty development and international programs that will elevate the department.
Falck, who died in 2013 at age 84, understood that art scholarships are not as commonplace as some other academic disciplines, especially during times of economic downturn. He established the endowment to give future artists the financial support to pursue their dreams.
As a student in the 1950s, Falck wanted to major in art at NDSU, but opted to pursue a career in architecture as an Air Force ROTC scholarship recipient. He fit in art classes as his schedule allowed. He had a long, successful career as an architect and landscape architect.
Falck eventually earned an art degree at age 62 and had a second career as a painter. His work has been exhibited in major cities throughout the U.S.
“My uncle did not know what he had to give, but he wanted to give all he had, so that NDSU art students could follow their chosen path—a path he felt he could not choose,” said niece Mary Anne Swiontek of Fargo, who serves as executor of the estate.
The announcement of the endowment was held Friday, Sept. 25, at 10 a.m. in the NDSU Memorial Union Gallery. NDSU President Dean L. Bresciani, Swiontek and her husband, Steve, who is chair of the NDSU Development Foundation, spoke at the event. They were joined by Kent Sandstrom, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Meghan Kirkwood, assistant professor of visual arts; and Carolyn Hausladen, art student and Jim Falck Scholarship recipient.
The announcement was held in conjunction with an art exhibit of Falck’s modernist work hosted by the NDSU Development Foundation and Alumni Association. Students, faculty, staff and the public are invited to attend the opening art show reception on Sept. 25, from 5-7 p.m.
The retrospective exhibit is called “A Protest Against Forgetting the Paintings of Jim Falck” and will run through Nov. 18. It features artwork designated for NDSU’s permanent collection as well as a limited number of works for sale.
This gift is the culmination of years of support Falck has provided to NDSU’s Department of Visual Arts. Since the 1990s, he had given funds in addition to his vast collection of art books to the department’s library, which bears his name. Inspired by studying art abroad, Falck established an annual scholarship in 2000 to provide one art student the same opportunity to study in Italy.
President Bresciani said gifts from alumni are a testament to the university’s long-established focus on students.
“Mr. Falck’s faithful support is deeply appreciated,” Bresciani said. “These scholarships will enable Visual Arts students to create art that will enrich not only the lives of people in North Dakota, but also people throughout the nation and world.”
Scholarships are important to art students who, in addition to purchasing textbooks, pay numerous studio fees and purchase extensive art supplies.
“We choose to study art because we love it, and we believe the world needs it. This endowment is an investment in the artists of the future. On behalf of my fellow students, I want to express our gratitude for believing in us and the value of the arts,” Hausladen said.
Falck was a North Dakota native, who spent much of his childhood on a farm near Buchanan. After graduating from NDSU, he served a tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force as a commissioned officer before beginning his career as an architect, working in Denver, Houston, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Phoenix. In 1966, he relocated to Boston and worked as an architect in the lead office of Walter Gropius, one of the pioneering masters of 20th century architecture and founder of the Bauhaus School. He branched out into landscape architecture and worked as the chief landscape architect for the park system in Boston from 1971 to 1988. As an artist, he studied in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Mexico.
His work has been featured in exhibitions in Bismarck, North Dakota, Fargo, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Boston and Washington, D.C., as well as galleries near his home in Massachusetts. His work was also shown at the Denver Art Museum and in a traveling exhibit organized by the Dallas Museum of Fine Art.
