Skaftfell Art Center warmly invites you to a special exhibition commemorating the 100-year anniversary of founder and benefactor Garðar Eymundsson. The exhibition presents works spanning his artistic life, including original drawings from the book Fjallahringur Seyðisfjarðar, first published in 2009 in collaboration with Björn Roth.
We invite you to join us for a full program of events on Saturday, 25 April, at Skaftfell, Austurvegur 42.
Garðar Eymundsson was born in a house named Baldurshagi in Seyðisfjörður during the summer of 1926. He grew up with his four siblings in a secure working class home. His father, Eymundur Ingvarsson from Grímsey, had a small fishing boat and was deeply involved in the labour union struggle. His mother Sigurborg Gunnarsdóttir, from nearby Hérað was a talented artistic woman. As usual at the time, Garðar’s formal education began when he was 9 years old. Fortunately, he was given good tuition from the start and was already drawing and painting very good pictures at the age of ten. At twelve he got a gun and began hunting birds to do his share in providing for the family and thus became intimately acquainted with nature. At 13 he left home for the first time and worked as a farm-hand on the nearby Þórarinstaðir farm. After that he would take any temporary job that came along, – on the docks and in the fisheries and at the age of 16 he went to Hornafjörður with the Seyðisfjordian fishing boat Valþór for the winter fishing season. He took his fist steps in carpentry tutored by boat-builder Niel Hólm Petersen in Seyðisfjörður. At the age of twenty he stepped onto the bus to Reykjavík. Arriving there he bought himself some good paints and canvas and started painting. He considered becoming an artist but was averted by the life-style of the masters and decide to start out as a carpenter. During his carpentry apprenticeship, he painted alongside and all of his works were immediately snatched up. He married Karólína Þorsteinsdóttir in 1949 and they moved back to Seyðisfjörður in 1951 where they lived out their lives. They have four children together and Garðar has one older son. Garðar ran an extensive woodworking company for many years, building more houses than can be mentioned here and manufacturing all woodwork for the 34 steel ships built in Seyðisfjörður between 1968 and 1991. Garðar has always painted alongside his other work and kept his artistic gift alive and kicking. At the age of 78 he quit the woodwork kept up an art studio and gallery since. Numerous artists and artisans enjoyed his guidance, carpenters and visual artists alike, including many students of The Iceland Academy of the Arts. He was proudest of the Skaftell Art Centre in Seyðisfjörður that he and his wife Karólína presented as a gift to the cultural life of Seyðisfjörður in 1996 and and continued to support up until their passing in 2016 and 2017.
