The new Community Center in Mountain, N.D., will host an art and photography exhibition and craft show Saturday and Sunday, including a collection of 60 paintings donated by artist Steve Gestson, who was raised in the Mountain area.
Many of the paintings in this donated collection are Icelandic landscapes. The Mountain area is home to many whose families came from Iceland.
Other artists, photographers and crafters also will display and sell their work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the exhibit will be $3, and there will be a freewill offering for lunch. For more information, call (701) 993-8370.
Gestson grew up in Edinburg, N.D., and has many fond memories of the area and the people there, a news release said. He donated his paintings in honor of the Community Center, which was dedicated in July.
His ties to northeast North Dakota go back to his parents. His father, Sigurjon Gestson, son of Jóhann Gestsson and Jóhanna Jónsdóttir, came from Sauðanesi, Iceland, in 1883. Steve Gestson's mother was Thordis Eyolfson, daughter of Stefán Eyjólfsson and Guðrún Þorláksdóttir, who came from from Eyjafjarðarsýsla, Iceland, in 1874.
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Steve Gestson was born in Milwaukee. His family moved back to Edinburg during the Great Depression and after graduating from high school, he served for two years in the Navy.
He graduated from college in Wahpeton, N.D., took a job in Fargo and married Lucille Anderson. Today he lives in Denver.
After retiring as an architectural hardware consultant, he enjoyed golfing and bowling but felt something was missing. One day, he decided to take a beginner painting class at a local senior center and discovered he had an untapped talent.
Gestson was pleased when he learned Mountain was building a new Community Center and contacted Curtis Olafson to coordinate the donation of his paintings, which were inspired from his Icelandic heritage and living in Edinburg. Some of his paintings are also his interpretation on photos done by Patrick Desgraupes (with Desgraupes' blessing) in the book titled "Iceland."
