Stephen Gjertson:
CLASS OF 1967
Roosevelt High SchoolClass of 1967
Minneapolis, MN
Stephen's Story
After graduating in 1967, I attended the University of Minnesota for three years, where I majored in art and played drums in the Football Marching Band and symphony band. I earned a living playing with friends from high school and college in the eight-member rock band Pride and Joy. In 1970 I left the university and went to art school for one year and then studied art seriously from 1971 to 1975 with Richard Lack at Atelier Lack, a small studio-school in Minneapolis based upon the teaching of the 19th century French ateliers and the Boston impressionists. From 1973 to 1988 I taught evening classes at Atelier Lack and, from 1978 to 1988 assisted Lack with the full-time atelier program. I also taught at four other Minneapolis area schools and studio-schools.
I am a professional artist and have painted plein-air landscapes, still lifes, and figure pieces. Most of my current work is figurative, and I painted a large triptych with predellas for Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis, and did a large painting called Peace, Be Still for Saint John’s Lutheran Church in Mound. I was an exceptional member of the American Portrait Society and I accept occasional portrait commissions. My portrait of former governor Arne H. Carlson hangs in the Minnesota State Capitol. I painted Ecolab CEO Allan L. Schuman and Dallas businessman Harlan R. Crow and his children.
Over the years I have organized and exhibited in almost seventy exhibitions featuring the work of contemporary realists and impressionists, including exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Amarillo Museum of Art, the Springville Museum of Art, and the Maryhill Museum of Art. In 1995 I organized Beauty: A Rebirth of Relevance for the Newington-Cropsey Foundation Gallery of Art in New York. That exhibition featured my work and that of Richard Lack, Don Koestner, and Kirk Richards. In the fall of 2002 Kirk Richards and I had a two-person exhibition For Glory and For Beauty at the Biblical Arts Center in Dallas, Texas. In 2009 I exhibited in Distinguished Company at the Bloomington Art Center, a show that also featured the work of Richard Lack and Don Koestner. I am currently, with artists Kirk Richards and Steve Armes, a member of TRIAD: Three American Painters. We have exhibited and lectured together for eight years in New York and Texas. I have also continued to play drums in local bands an...Expand for more
d orchestras, recording several albums with friends.
In 1988 I was a founding member of The American Society of Classical Realism Guild of Artists, and was an editorial advisor to their publications, the Classical Realism Quarterly and the Classical Realism Journal. I was president of The American Society of Classical Realism and editor of the Classical Realism Newsletter. I have written over thirty articles and essays, including “Classical Realism: A Living Artistic Tradition,” “Hippolyte Flandrin: A Personal Appreciation” and “Frontiers of Enchantment: The Outdoor Studies of William R. Leigh.” His essay, “The Necessity of Excellence,” was published in the book Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston School. I wrote articles on the 19th century French artists Jules-Élie Delaunay, Jean-Paul Laurens, and Alexandre Cabanel, as well as a study of the restored Opéra Garnier in Paris. I wrote the book Richard F. Lack: An American Master and co-authored For Glory and For Beauty: Practical Perspectives on Christianity and the Visual Arts.
My work was featured in the October 1983 issue of American Artist magazine some of my paintings have appeared on the cover of periodicals such as American Artist, The Artist’s Magazine, The Recorder Magazine, the American Arts Quarterly, and books such as Realism in Revolution: The Art of the Boston School, A Christian View of Men and Things, and First Corinthians. Various works were featured in Painting Faces and Figures, published by Watson-Guptill, The Best of Still Life Painting, The Best of Portrait Painting and Strokes of Genius 4: Exploring Line published by North Light Books. In 1993 The American Society of Classical Realism published Timeless Treasure: The Art of Stephen Gjertson. I am listed in Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in America and Marquis Who's Who. A selection of my work and articles may be viewed at stephengjertsongalleries.com.
I am married and have four children and three granddaughters. I enjoyed seeing Richard Johnson, our old band director, at his birthday celebration at Roosevelt last year, and saw former classmates Don Mosher and Steve Belor. I also see Jerry Wolfe, and enjoyed playing with a reunited Pride and Joy at the 1969 class reunion last summer. I also keep in touch with fellow artist and RHS grad., Wayne Meineke. I loved Roosevelt, had a great time there, and have many fond memories.
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