Well-known portraiturist Worth D. Griffin steps off the train in Pullman to teach design and creative composition and help build WSC’s art program, which is barely four years old and staffed by just one other full-time faculty member.
During the next 34 years on campus, Griffin teaches painting and drawing, serves as chairman of the art department, pushes for establishment of a master’s program in fine arts, and co-founds a summer art colony. He expands the course offerings to include sculpture, pottery, jewelry design, interior design, aesthetics, etching and lithography, mural painting, and art history and art appreciation.
In the mid-1930s, President Holland and the Board of Regents provide Griffin with a leave of absence with salary and expenses to travel and paint 50 portraits of well-known eastern Washington people, including newspaper publishers and business leaders. Griffin’s pieces and the pieces from Holland’s collection form the foundation of the WSU Museum of Arts’ permanent collection.
