In 1978 the year after her death, the University of Colorado Board of Regents honored Muriel Sibell Wolle by naming the fine arts building after her. Until 2008 when the building was demolished, the campus maintained this connection with this "Alumni of the Century" (1976) and artistic force - the woman who is credited with making the department what it is today.

Graduating from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts (later Parsons) with a degree in costume design and advertising, Muriel taught for a period at the Texas State College for Women in Denton but returned to New York and earned a B.S. in art education from New York University. Preceded by a stay in Colorado Springs at NYU's summer program, she accepted a teaching position at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and soon she would become department chair.

Landing in the Mountain West, the young woman from Brooklyn hit her stride. During her visit to Colorado Springs, she discovered the fading Cripple Creek Mining District. Now in Colorado, Muriel would spend every summer traveling to the deserted mining towns to sketch and photograph the rapidly vanishing communities. Muriel's goal was to "catch the mood and quality of the town with a sympathetic and dramatic interpretation." She captured them as "a picturesque and courageous part of our national heritage." Her artwork and writings were instrumental in fueling the ghost town craze. Eventually she authored and illustrated four books about the vacant places and became as well known for her writing as her art.

Earning a masters degree in English literature from CU, Muriel also designed sets and costumes for theater productions. Through this activity, she met her future husband, Francis Wolle, a professor of English, whom she married in 1945. The couple were members of St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, and in 2009 the church celebrated the opening of the Muriel Sibell Wolle Gallery with an exhibition of her works gathered from parishioners.

In addition to her stature in the art community, Muriel was an early champion of civil rights. When other programs were turning away minorities, she made certain they were included in the fine arts department. During World World II, she mentored the first African American member of the fine arts honorary and invited her home, at a time when interracial socializing happened very rarely in Boulder.

As an artist, she was a member of the CU professors collaborative, The Prospectors, who were united in their depiction of regional scenes. From 1931-1939 they organized shows and exhibitions across the United States at universities, museums and galleries.

She left a large legacy conserved at the Denver Public Library's Western History Collection - 3,000 photographic images, as well as field notes, scrapbooks, journals, maps and various manuscript drafts. The Norlin Library at CU in Boulder also holds a considerable archive.

Awards: Kansas City, Art Institute, 1932.

Exhibited: Denver Art Museum, in 1933 and 1956; Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, 1945; Maryland Art Institute, Baltimore, 1945; and Iowa State University, Ames, 1967. National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, New York; Joslyn Memorial Museum, Omaha, Nebraska; New York Watercolor Society, New York; Cincinnati Museum of Art; American Watercolor Society, New York; and the Springfield Museum of Art, Missouri.

Member: Boulder, Colorado Art Guild, Colorado Education Association; Idaho State Historical Society; The Westerners; Colorado State Historical; Montana State Historical Society; Wyoming State Historical Society.

Works Held: Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Colorado; Colby College Museum of Art, Maine; The John H. Vanderpoel Art Association, Illinois.