Norsk star

Artist known for troll work gains new fans after historic mural is uncovered vation of Havre courthouse

Kalispell artist Arvid "Chris" Kristoffersen has drawn, painted and carved with distinction long enough to find his work at the center of a historic-preservation dilemma in Havre.

His mural, painted more than 40 years ago, was discovered behind a piece of drywall during the latest renovation of the Hill County Courthouse. The find halted work since plans required a door go through the mural, painted directly on a foot-thick plaster wall.

"I shouldn't have done that," Kristoffersen, 78, said in retrospect.

Another of his courthouse murals, "The Last Roundup" was painted on canvas, allowing its preservation during an earlier renovation.

Kristoffersen's wife, Roslyn, a well-known dance teacher, remembered the call from Candi Zion, chairman of the Havre-Hill Preservation commission, telling them about finding his historic bison-kill mural.

"She was so thrilled that he was still around," Roslyn said with a laugh.

Not only is Kristoffersen alive, but he draws, paints and carves daily, producing works reflecting his Norwegian roots. He has sold his art work, often featuring whimsical trolls, to admirers in 40 states and nine foreign countries.

It was a coincidence that allowed Zion to trace the mural back to Kristoffersen, who moved to the Flathead in 1968.

Kristoffersen had not signed his courthouse art, including "The Last Roundup." However, he stumbled across that mural on display at the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum in Havre and informed the staff that he was the unknown artist.

It was through that identification that the preservation commission learned that Kristoffersen, not the decorating firm Odin Oyen of Wisconsin, painted the newly discovered mural. But sadly, economics won't permit its preservation intact.

At a recent meeting in Havre, the county commissioners decided they could not afford the $30,000 to $50,000 it would take to change the location of openings, but they still hope to preserve as much of the mural as possible.

Kristoffersen has offered to help restore or recreate the mural, which was damaged by gluing the drywall to the plaster. Although the original dates back more than 45 years, the artist said he could repaint the buffalo-kill scene on canvas to hang at another location.

The artist taps more than 70 years of drawing and painting experience. He began his art career in his native Kragero, Telemark, Norway.

"I started drawing before I was in grade school," Kristoffersen said.

As a young child, he found his mother's pencils and started drawing on a piece of paper. His mother, a well-known artist and carver, recognized her toddler's talent.

Kristoffersen's teachers were also wowed by his work.

"His sister, who was 17 years younger, went to school and discovered that his teachers had kept his work to show other students," Roslyn said.

After World War II, Kristoffersen enrolled in art school at the University of Norway. While studying his craft, he worked for a furniture company, carving fairy-tale figures into chair backs.

"I carved Cinderella and the three little pigs and painted some of that furniture," he said. "I heard that Raymond Burr and Bing Crosby had some of it."

Although only 23, Kristoffersen had already established his artistic reputation in Norway for his carvings and fairy-tale illustrations in books and magazines.

Then, in 1952, he decided to come to the United States. His intention was to stay for two years.

"I don't have any plans of going back," he said.

The artist first stayed with his maternal aunt on the Tutvedt farm when he came to Kalispell. Before leaving and joining the Army, Kristoffersen created a mural along the stairway of the old farm house.

Following his service, Kristoffersen enrolled in Art Instruction Incorporated in Minneapolis in 1955. His standout talent at the school led to an invitation to apply with Walt Disney Productions to help build the troll pavilion at Disney World in Florida.

After long consideration, he politely turned down the request.

"I don't like to work under pressure," Kristoffersen said.

Instead he headed to Havre in 1958 where he made his living painting and decorating houses. A meeting with two Hill County commissioners, Dean McFadden and Hershal Fox, led to the county courthouse assignment in 1960.

"They took me up to the top floor and told me what they wanted to have done," Kristoffersen said.

He started with the rotunda with Roman numerals representing the Ten Commandments, then moved to painting scrollwork up and down columns reaching from the top floor to the basement.

"They liked it so much that they wanted to me to keep going," he said.

Through two winters and a summer, the artist repainted an old mural of a covered wagon scene and created his own mural of historic figure Long George Francis roping a calf.

He also painted the newly discovered bison-kill mural on the bottom floor and decorated a courtroom with a painting of Roman women depicting liberty, equality and justice.

Kristoffersen remembers the comments of one of the new commissioners when she took her first tour of the finished courthouse. She said it reminded her of a castle.

"She said 'I feel like a princess,'" he recalled with a smile.

Near the end of the '60s, Kristoffersen returned to the Flathead to stay. It was fortunate that he wasn't in Havre in the '70s to see his intricate art work covered over in the name of energy conservation.

"In the '70s during the oil craze, all the rotundas in the state had to be closed," he said. "They ruined that courthouse by remodeling it."

His move here was also fortunate because his talent was tapped for painting murals and rosemaling panels in the Sons of Norway building and for refurbishing the Conrad Mansion inside and out in the mid '70s.

Kristoffersen was able to retrieve his Sons of Norway murals recently when the building was sold and remodeling started.

"I took all the pictures down and I sold some of them," he said of the 4-by-8 foot murals now stored in his garage.

At the Conrad Mansion, Kristoffersen re-created delicate scrollwork on the French linen that covers the walls and ceiling of the music room. He worked for almost a year, repainting the outside and each of the 28 rooms inside the mansion.

"That's when I saw that ghost," he said.

Kristoffersen remembers like it was yesterday the evening he stayed late, finishing up the middle bedroom on the second floor. Since he was all alone, the footsteps coming down the hall caught his attention.

"I looked at the door and - for two or three seconds - saw a lady in a long dress and high-heel lace-up boots," he said. "She continued down the steps to the kitchen."

Feeling a cold chill, the artist skipped cleaning his brushes, jamming them in a bucket and racing out of the old house. He even forgot to set the burglar alarm in his fright.

"I think it was Mrs. Conrad," he said. "She must of liked what I was doing because she didn't bother me."

Over the years, Kristoffersen left his imprint on many elegant houses in the Flathead, including the Sam Bibler estate. After painting the home inside and out, he painted and donated to the Biblers a picture of a garden troll watering flowers, which still hangs in the dining room.

Amid all this work, he found time to go dancing one evening at the Eagles where he met Roslyn, a dance professional, who was widowed at the time from another Norwegian. The two married in 1983.

Although 78, Kristoffersen hasn't stopped creating fine art. He even still paints and decorates houses as long as he doesn't have to climb up high on ladders.

"I take the easy jobs," he said with a laugh.

He decorated his own house with beautifully carved scroll work on the garage, entry and along the stairs leading to his downstairs studio. His studio overflows with carvings and drawings, many of trolls of all manner and professions.

The couple sell his work from his home studio, at showings in Kalispell and Libby, and in North Dakota, in Minot and Fargo. They are thinking of opening a gallery on land they own in Hungry Horse.

Kristoffersen has ample inventory, including unusual canes with humorous carved heads.

"That's my first girlfriend," he said with a laugh as he held up a rather horrifying red-headed cane.

His studio collection includes wall hangings of carved Viking heads and many framed drawings of frolicking trolls. He also takes special orders, like golfing troll carvings.

Roslyn said her husband finds inspiration during his frequent trips to Sykes' restaurant. The day before the interview, he had arrived home from Sykes' and quickly drew a sketch.

"He saw a lady all bent over," Roslyn said with a laugh. "She was a perfect troll."

Unlike the scary trolls of fairy tales, Kristoffersen carves and draws friendly, happy trolls. Some feature the familiar weathered, bent-over variety, while other trolls show off their athletic abilities.

During the Olympics in Norway, he created his own Troll-lympics, including four trolls riding a bobsled carved out of a log.

""This is one of my favorites," he said, displaying a troll who consumed too much of his home brew with his outraged wife hot on his trail. Kristoffersen admits he sometimes laughs at his own comic creations.

Sometimes a Hollywood legend sets his muse in motion as in the carving of Marilyn Mon-troll, a lovely blond troll with her skirt blowing up. But it's mostly, local people that send him scrambling for pencils, pens, brushes or carving knives.

"Some people walk around with blinders," he said. "If you keep your eyes open, there are ideas all around you."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.