Good to know: Culture came to life in the hands of Alexandria, Minnesota, painter

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Art has long been a part of Geraldine Carlson’s life.

As a child, she made her own paper dolls with interchangeable outfits. Their wardrobes were inspired by “what you would see in a Sears-Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalog,” her husband Chuck Carlson said.

“Some of these drawings that she would do, she would give them to her younger cousins,” he recalled in an interview.

But Carlson would not be interested in rosemaling, the Norwegian folk painting style, until a few years later. It was in her twenties, when she and Chuck were first raising a family, that Carlson learned to create the floral designs she was known for even as an older adult – her work has been exhibited at the Seniors Center in Alexandria, Minnesota. in 2017.

Geraldine Carlson

Geraldine Carlson

“In Norway, they have many different styles depending on their location,” she said. His favorite was the Telemark, which is more fluid and less concerned with geometric patterns.

Carlson will be remembered for his location of Alexandria during a Celebration of Life on July 23 at Anderson Funeral Home. Carlson died on February 10, 2020, at the age of 89.

GOOD TO KNOW:

The eldest child of Roy and Cora Palmer, Geraldine Corinne Carlson, or “Gerry” for short, was born on November 1, 1930 in Alexandria. Known as calm and intelligent, she attended Alexandria High School and graduated with honors in 1948.

Carlson lived and worked briefly in California before returning to Minnesota, where she landed again in 1951, this time for Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was there that she reconnected with Chuck, whom she had known since her childhood in Alexandria since the age of 15.

The couple married later that year, after which Carlson quit his job to focus on raising their four children in Fridley, Minn. It was around this time, Chuck said, that Carlson began practicing rosemary.

“She painted quite a few plates and painted a ‘willkommen’ sign,” Chuck said.

Another Rosemary Piece by Gerry Carlson on display at Alexandria Senior Center in 2017 (Lowell Anderson / Forum News Service)

Another Rosemary Piece by Gerry Carlson on display at Alexandria Senior Center in 2017 (Lowell Anderson / Forum News Service)

The Carlsons have moved several times over the years, and from 1978 to 1990 owned and operated Kaldahl’s Resort in Glenwood, before returning to Alexandria in 2012.

Carlson, who by the time of his death had written the equivalent of three booklets on his family history and that of Chuck, volunteered several days a week at the Douglas County Historical Society. Her research included a trip to Norway, where she saw where her great-grandparents called home, and regular correspondence with a Swedish relative to whom Chuck said he wrote “until his death.”

Rachel Barduson, former executive director of the historical society, said Carlson helped catalog historical records and would answer phone calls from out-of-state researchers examining their own ancestors. She was so reserved, Barduson recalls, that she would sometimes begin her volunteer shifts before someone else noticed her presence.

Of Carlson’s Rosemary, Barduson said, “Her hidden talent that she wouldn’t talk about could just show up in this form.”

It was a talent admired by others, according to Chuck. Some of Carlson’s decorative paintings were given to friends, others to his children.

“Everyone enjoyed his paintings,” he said.

Carlson is survived by her husband and four children.

Details from artist Gerry Carlson's rosemaling exhibit at Alexandria Senior Center in 2017 (Lowell Anderson / Forum News Service)

Details from artist Gerry Carlson’s rosemaling exhibit at Alexandria Senior Center in 2017 (Lowell Anderson / Forum News Service)

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