[1] He was the son of Florence Starbuck du Bois and Frederick E. Olmsted, a United States Forest Service administrator and one of the founders of American forestry.

[2][11] Olmsted also painted a window archway called "Pottery" in the Anne Bremer Memorial Library at the SFAI.

[12] In 1935 while still an art student, he painted a fresco mural at the SFAI named "Marble Workers" which depicted tradesmen at work at a Fisherman's Wharf tile shop.

[11] In 2013, the "Marble Workers" was rediscovered and a Save America's Treasures grant was awarded to offset the cost of its restoration in September 2019.

[3][1][13] He carved the stone sculptures during the WPA's Art in Action, an exhibition of artists working live for audiences in the summer of 1940.

[19] In 1941, Olmsted painted two 12 by 8 feet (3.7 by 2.4 m) foot tempera fresco murals at the City College of San Francisco for the Federal Arts Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration.

[2] The murals show male and female students engaged in scientific activities such as conducting field research, excavating a dinosaur fossil, and looking at bacteria through a microscope.

[1] In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked in the division of research at the Cleveland Clinic with Irvine Page, designing and testing various medical devices.

[3][22][24] While at the California School of Fine Arts Olmsted met fellow student Barbara Leslie Greene who was a native of Williams, Arizona.