Gary's Splash Page

News

Whoa! This was a wonderful wedding of some friends of Gary's and for whom he did their wedding photos. "The thing I enjoy most about photographing weddings is the challenge of the large group photograph," explains Gary. "I love taking them." Click here.

Gary just completed a wonderful personal project called "The Rose Lady of Dubuque." It's an hour long film documenting the artistic technique of Helen Burkart, a decorative painter of porcelain who has just turned 90 but still "swings the brush" as she says. You've got to see this wonderful movie and learn more about the motivation behind its making. Click here.

No, this isn't Kryptonite. It's peridot, one of the many gems Gary and Linda saw at the Tucson, Arizona Gem and Mineral Show this winter. "We've prepared a documentary film and photos of our experience in what arugably could be called the Gem Capitol of the World," explains Gary. Go to Linda Olsen's Jewelry Site.

Gary and fellow film maker Jim Barefoot have completed a documentary about Dubuque, Iowa, "An All-America City." The film examines the whole process of qualifying, becoming a finalist city and competing live among the 20 finalists from across the nation. It's a life affirming look at grass-roots democracy in action. Click here.

Cartoon College is Gary Olsen's repository for his growing collection of cartoons published on Dubuque Schools' Website. His work has been seen in USAToday, and is a favorite among publishers worldwide. Gary's topics are on education and that special relationship between parent and child. Click here to view the collection.

Photos from Gary and Linda's Trip to Switzerland! Click here!

A long time ago, Gary Olsen was working in radio while attending college at the University of Dubuque. One of Gary's early mentors was a newsman, Gordon Kilgore. Kilgore was known as the dean of Iowa newscasters. In Gordie's retirement years, he became a great environmentalist, historian, and storyteller of river history, and he was named to the board of the National Rivers Hall of Fame, an organization he helped fund and prosper and which is an integral part of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque. This past year, Gordie passed away. His radio station, KDTH, on their 60th Anniversary, commissioned Gary to prepare a special portrait of Gordie which was presented to the Museum to celebrate his life and contributions. Click on the portrait above to see the entire composition and learn more.

I saw my friend Carl Johnson painting a picture on the US 20 Bridge in Galena, Illinois. He's one of Galena's great artists, and I snapped these photos of him while we chatted about art, the weather, and some of the interesting people we've met through the years. Click here.

You'll love this. Gary and Linda took a course in bead making from one of the top artists in this field in the country. Click here for a great photo album.

Gary just posted a new feature on this website called, "Gary Olsen's Production Notebook." It consists of short movie clips captured with a small video camera while on location. Their purpose is to provide supplimental instruction for teachers and students. Click here.

This is a still frame from Gary's motion picture on Postive Behavior Supports, produced for the University of Oregon. The film deals with an innovative system schools can employ to significantly reduce the incidences of behavior disturbances among primary and secondary students. Click here to learn more.

Click here for Gary's photo journals include pictures of the Grand Excursion and photo safaris throughout the Tri-State Area.

Great fish caught in Canada.

Filmmaker for dubuqueambassadors.com

Gary's Fishing Blog! "I would take these marvelous fishing trips and tell my friends I caught some nice fish. Naturally nobody believes me. So I started taking a camera along, sometimes a video camera, and now I put all of my fish and fish stories on my Fishing Blog. I've applied technology to the traditional fish story. Instant credibility."

Can't find that page in Gary's site?

We created a links page that has icons from each of the pages in the archival files. Many pages in the site are somewhat specific for clients or projects, and may not have direct links. But now, with Gary Olsen's Weenerrific Web Pages, you can relocate the favorite page!

Welcome to the Studio!

elcome to Gary Olsen's Digital Media Design website. This website is a virtual studio of work in process... especially graphic design work. But there are also movies! There is a growing number of videos representing a wide variety of projects that Gary is working on at any time. We work with a variety of clients, but we maintain a small and exclusive list because Gary does not want to provide anything short of wonderful, thoughtful and especially personal service. Besides being a designer, painter, photographer, and a documentary film maker, Gary is a media developer for the Dubuque Community School District. In addition, Gary teaches classes at Clarke College in Dubuque. Below are some highlights of projects that Gary is working on... WIPS... Works In Process. Our design clients use this site to check on their projects. The web is ideal for this close client collaboration.

First of all, Gary's creative expression extends to the following areas: Graphic Design, Illustration, Movie Making and Photography. Graphic Design encompasses all forms of design for advertising and communication. It includes print, publications, and signage.

Then there's Illustration. Gary does everything form pictorials to fine-art for galleries. His specialty is portrait painting, an enterprise that has established him in his home town of Dubuque, Iowa. Gary studied under the late, great Frank Licciardi, and produces approximately a dozen portraits a year for various clients.

Movies is a creative enterprise Gary has embraced seriously in the last few years, and he's produced over 200 short films for the Dubuque Community School District, the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, and various other clients. Gary shoots and produces event videos and that includes weddings. Gary has elevated this popular product to a new level of artistic expression.

Gary teaches photography as well as offers professional photographic services. His background is largely photojournalism, and he's taken this experience and applied it to event and commercial photography. Gary also teachers photography at Clarke College.

We're on DCS-TV Channel 19 on Mediacom Cable Television!

Gary Olsen is an award winning media developer for the Dubuque Community Schools. Gary joined the district after a long career in corporate communications for such companies as John Deere. He worked in advertising and multimedia design for such firms as Frank Hardie Advertising, and then worked for government contractor NCS (now NCS Pearson), helping federal and state government agencies design and build websites. For the past eight years working in education, Gary has been programming and managing a completely automated Cable Television Channel, Mediacom 19, that plays in the greater Dubuque Tri-State market. Gary has won numerous awards for film making, documentary work, and graphic arts. Kids in the Kitchen (above), won the cable television industry's most prestigious award, the Beacon, for best series television show in its first year on the air.

Channel 19 is the exclusive domain of the Dubuque Community School District and was launched as a cooperative venture between Dubuque Schools and Mediacom Cable. Programs originate in Dubuque schools, and play state-wide. Among the series television shows that Gary produces are of course the national award winning Kids in the Kitchen, and Garden Organic. Most recently, Gary produced a medical show for children called Doctor! Doctor! and a music education show called The Maestro and Me! Gary developed another program called High School House a show in which a dozen high school students and a professional contractor and interior designer build a $300,000 house. It's in its third season.

Other shows Gary produces include Kids & Creatures, Reality Math, Designer's Club (a show about interior decorating), Mudd Puppies! and countless documentaries such as Dubuque, An All-America City.

This past year Gary won distinction as being among the top 41 best cable content providers in America. Gary was named by Cable Leaders in Learning two years in a row, the cable industry's educational advocacy group based in Washington, DC.

This January, Gary and his cast for Kids in the Kitchen are producing their third season in the new kitchen set constructed last season by Hy-Vee, the host sponsor of the show. The kitchen is a state-of-the art instructional cooking facility built to Gary 's specifications. The show features celebrated chef Jim Terry and a cast of 30 middle school students who will produce 20 new shows for 2008. A new national sponsor is on board, Organic Valley, one of the nation's top organic food producer cooperatives. The show is unique because not only do kids cook on the show, but they shop for all the ingredients in the store with the chef. The emphasis is on fresh food and produce, organic ingredients, and low salt, low sugar recipes high in nutritional value.

Below castmembers of The Garden Organic.

The Main Street Print Project

If you're a Dubuque native, then you'll simply love this. It's one of Gary's trademark "Memories of Lifetime" photographic assemblages commemorating the history of Dubuque's Main Street and Downtown District Businesses. The objects that comprise the collage are all part of a vast collection of collectibles and business memorabilia belonging to friend and collaborator, Bob Redding. Bob's collection forms the basis for an exciting new project that Gary is involved in called, "The Main Street Print Project." The print project celebrates the rich history of Dubuque's downtown area, undergoing a cultural and business renaissance of sorts these last few years. Gary was commissioned by Dubuque Main Street Ltd., the business advocacy group that is celebrating a 20 year anniversary. Click here to learn more about this exciting community project, a portion of proceeds from which benefit the print's sponsor, Dubuque's Main Street LTD.

So many things are in this website, it would take you a long time to explore it all. This site serves our clients best as a virtual studio of work that Gary is involved in from project to project. Right now, Gary is working on one of the most ambitious environmental graphic programs of his career, and it's available to see on a website. Learn more by clicking here, and you'll see the Dubuque Gateway Project. It is a visually interesting website not to mention the welcome signs themselves are quite magnificent. Each one is built of native limestone, red brick, wrought iron and weighs almost nine tons! The signs will serve to welcome people to Dubuque, Iowa, located in the heartland of America at the corners of three states, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Illinois on the banks of the Mississippi River. Gary not only designed the signs but chairs the community wide project that is going to fund the constructions of the signs. Within two months of the campaign's launch, Gary had already raised over $25,000 to pay for one sign. The first sign has been built, and a second and third construction site have been designated. Click on the sign graphic above to learn more.

It's not all work and no play... Here's Gary with one of his latest endeavors, a recumbent bicycle he bought on the Internet. A great movie clip is available demonstrating this most innovative contraption. It's actually more comfortable than a traditional bike, better on hills, and faster because of the rider's recumbent riding position cuts the wind better. Learn more by clicking here.

Digital Video and Photography

Visit our professional photography and videography services section. We only do a few of these very special events a year, so it's critical to book well in advance of your planned event. This website is still in the developmental stages. There are parts of this site that are incomplete. But slowly and purposely we are adding functionality and more information... at least enough information to help you make a decision about your special event photography and videography needs. Want to see some portfolios? Click here.

Digital Photography Classes

Another Digital Photography Course was taught at Clarke in June and July this summer. Each class is a four day intensive workshop. This is one of the most popular workshops taught in the area. Students get to use their own cameras as well as professional equipment provided by the instructors. This photo of Gary Olsen was taken by one of the students this past summer. Click here to learn more and view the student portfolios and a movie documentary of one of the classes!

The Dubuque Historical Sign Project

The Dubuque Historical District sign project is underway, and these are the first drafts. The signs will mark the Jackson Park, Cathedral, West 11th Street, Langworthy and Old Main historic districts in the City of Dubuque. The designs passed their first hurdle with the Historic Preservation Commission, and there promises to be some modifications based on the input received. "I love the collaborative process," explains Gary. "Because you often expose opportunities one would not experience working in a vacuum." The commissioners loved the icons, however, and suggestion an additional one for one particular historic district. Stay tuned to this website for more details as they become available.

Well aren't you a Daisy!

Meet Daisy! She's the newest addition to the Olsen household, and she is so smart. For example, she did a little doodle on the Berber, and I told her, "On the paper, on the paper!" She replied, "but I haven't read it yet." For more funny photos, click on her photo.

Oh Canada!

See Gary's film shot on location at Lake Seseganaga, Ontario Canada. Only Gary and his pals can turn a fly-in fishing trip to the North Country into an epic adventure. It showcases Gary's portable video production capabilities. The video was shot on Mini-DV with a palm-style camera, and the editing took place on a Dell laptop computer. If you have high-speed web connections, you can partake in a super high-quality MPEG version of this 45 minute movie. Lots of fish, lots of fun!

On the left is one of Gary's more interesting projects. Gary purchased an old dressing table with a missing mirror, and he thought it might make nice piece of decorative furniture. But it had to be a decoration with a theme and that theme was Mark Twain. The result is entitled "The Mark Twain Desk." The desk is completely hand painted. Check out the step-by-step diary of the project complete with preliminary designs. Visit the Mark Twain Desk Project.

Pet Projects

Nice doggie! Gary has launched a new portrait offering based on his incredibly successful Memories of a Lifetime. Gary's pet portrait commissions have always been among his "pet projects" hence the very appropriate name. Click on the link and see some samples.

Gary is Web Master and Public Affairs Coordinator for Dubuque Community Schools, and you can view his most ambitious project to date at http://www.dubuque.k12.ia.us. Gary's first order of business when he joined the district was to design a new logo for the Dubuque Schools. That was followed by a fairly complex Annual Report and of course the district's comprehensive website. The site is a true multimedia experience. It contains not only information but remarkable visuals and an audio component which is very interesting. The website has reached its five year milestone and it now contains over 20,000 files, photos, movie and sound clips, and graphics. Visit this innovative site and learn about the Dubuque Community Schools, among the top seven quality school districts in the nation according to Expansion Management Magazine.