Soren Edsberg: Mormon Artist
Soren Edsberg is a Danish-born American painter, photographer, and gallery owner. He began with an impressionistic style that was acceptable to Europeans and is now an abstract artist, using different media.
Edsberg was born on October 10, 1945. His father, Knud Edsberg, was a talented portraitist. His father regularly took Soren to see great art. As a teenage artist, he earned several thousand dollars a year selling his paintings. Edsberg and his father joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1961. His mother, Kirsten, joined the Church a year before her death.
Edsberg met his wife, Johnna, in Copenhagen, where she was studying piano at the Royal Academy of Music. They are the parents of seven children. The family lived in Egemarke Manor Castle, which also served as his gallery and studio. They moved to the United States in 1987 and Edsberg became an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University.
He aims to have his work express uplifting values and gospel truths. The scriptures inspired one series of paintings so he inscribed the scripture below or on the back of each painting. A recent series, The Course of Life, was inspired by an aerial view of the earth and he created it hoping that people would consider their paths and think with an eternal perspective.[1]
His work has been exhibited in several European museums and by the Association of National Art in the Charlottenborg Palace, which is the home of the Danish Royal Academy of National Arts. His work is held in many private and public collections worldwide.
In the 1990s, Edsberg used his artistic skill to produce and direct a series of educational medical videos for schools, universities, hospitals, and government agencies in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. He also shared his artistic talent with the Baby Video Library series.
Edsberg owns and operates the Hope Gallery and Museum of Fine Art in Salt Lake City, Park City, and Provo, Utah.
