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F. W. “Bill” Thomsen (1906-1991) was an artist, visionary, minister, and teacher who inspired many people with his art and his philosophy.

Thomsen himself was greatly influenced by John G. Neihardt, the Poet Laureate of Nebraska, and the Oglala Lakota holy man, Black Elk.

The influence the Native American holy man and the Nebraska poet had upon Thomsen was expressed in his final series of works, a collection of drawings and paintings that culminated in the “Tower of the Four Winds” high on the hill above Blair and Dana College.
 

Thomsen, Neihardt, and Black Elk will be forever linked for people who walk the hills west of Blair and gaze up at Thomsen’s interpretation of Black Elk’s vision. As Thomsen said, “The tower symbolizes what we have been writing about and dreaming about for so long, trying to weld people together in peace and compassion.” He truly was the driving force behind the creation of Black Elk-Neihardt Park, its shelter, and, of course, the magnificent mosaic tower.

Thomsen was well known for his outstanding work in mosaics, which grace the interiors and exteriors of churches, hospitals, and other institutions throughout the Midwest. Examples are “The Morning Star” for the Good Samaritan Society in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the chapel art, “The Good Shepherd,” and stained glass window of “The Light of the World” at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

Thomsen was born in Hjorring, Denmark, and came to America with his family when he was six years old. They settled in Racine, Wisconsin. He was a graduate of the Cleveland Art Institute and St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and received a master of fine arts degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Thomsen also graduated from Trinity Seminary at Dana College in Blair.

He designed and helped build Bethesda Lutheran church in Morehead, Iowa, and for over ten years served as its pastor while commuting to Blair to teach art and to head the Dana College art department. In 1955 he and his wife and two sons moved to Blair, where he continued to chair the Dana art department through 1972. He retired as Professor Emeritus of Art in 1975. The Thomsen Art Gallery in Dana’s Madsen Fine Arts Center is named in his honor