The artist and Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur resident, Eir\u00edkur Smith, has died at the age of 92. Eir\u00edkur was born in 1925 and spent his early years growing up in Straumur, by Straumsv\u00edk. The family moved to Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur in 1931, and Eir\u00edkur lived in the town for almost all of his life thereafter. He began drawing ships and boats on scraps of paper he could find at an early age. His drawings attracted attention, and he was encouraged by his teachers at Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur Primary School to nurture this talent. A unique photograph from this period exists, showing Eir\u00edkur's classroom decorated with his pictures. Eir\u00edkur entered the workforce at a young age. His interest in art was never far away, however, and he took courses and held exhibitions alongside his work. In 1946, he began his studies at the School of Handicrafts and Fine Arts, and two years later, in 1948, he held his first exhibition at the Sj\u00e1lfst\u00e6\u00f0ish\u00fasi\u00f0 in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. He studied fine art in Copenhagen and Paris but also learnt graphic design at the Technical School in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. Eir\u00edkur spent most of his career practising his art in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. He was given studio space at the primary school and later at Flensborg. After he built a house at Stekkjarkinn in the 1950s with his wife, Brynd\u00eds Sigur\u00f0ard\u00f3ttir, he always had a studio at home. Around 1990, they built a magnificent house in Setberg in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur with a bright and spacious studio, which enabled Eir\u00edkur to work on larger oil paintings than before. Eir\u00edkur is a founding member of the Keili Golf Club and was later a founding member of the Setberg club in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. The logos for both clubs are his design.<\/p>\n
The opening exhibition at Hafnarborg on 21 May 1988 was a solo exhibition by Eir\u00edkur. It featured 33 oil paintings, several of which were very large, and 33 watercolours from the years 1983\u201388. It had been 40 years since Eir\u00edkur opened his first solo exhibition at Sj\u00e1lfst\u00e6\u00f0ish\u00fasi\u00f0. Eir\u00edkur's subject matter in the 1988 exhibition was the relationship between man and nature, but also the forces that are beyond human understanding. Eir\u00edkur donated a magnificent collection of works to Hafnarborg, the art museum of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. In total, 341 works: 115 paintings and 226 works on paper, such as watercolours, pastels and drawings, spanning the artist's entire career, the oldest dating from 1948. The gift was a significant boost to Hafnarborg's collection, and the museum has staged five exhibitions in recent years showcasing the varied career of this prolific and remarkable artist. \u00a0On New Year's Day 2005, Eir\u00edkur was made a Knight of the Order of the Falcon for his services to visual art, and on the 100th anniversary of the City of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, on 1 June 2008, he was named Honorary Artist of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. Eir\u00edkur Smith's contribution to the arts in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur is invaluable, and he will be remembered as a distinguished artist who truly left his mark on the city's culture and arts.<\/p>\n
On behalf of the Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur Town Council and its staff, I send my sincere condolences to Brynd\u00eds Sigur\u00f0ard\u00f3ttir, his surviving wife, and his family.<\/p>\n
Haraldur L. Haraldsson,
\nMayor of the Borough of Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
L\u00e1tinn er \u00e1 92 aldurs\u00e1ri listm\u00e1larinn og Hafnfir\u00f0ingurinn Eir\u00edkur Smith. Eir\u00edkur f\u00e6ddist \u00e1ri\u00f0 1925 og \u00f3lst upp \u00ed Straumi vi\u00f0 Straumsv\u00edk fyrstu \u00e1rin. Fj\u00f6lskyldan fluttist inn til Hafnarfjar\u00f0ar \u00e1ri\u00f0 1931 og bj\u00f3 Eir\u00edkur \u00ed Hafnarfir\u00f0i n\u00e6r alla t\u00ed\u00f0 s\u00ed\u00f0an. Hann byrja\u00f0i snemma a\u00f0 teikna skip og b\u00e1ta \u00e1 papp\u00edr sem honum \u00e1skotna\u00f0ist. Teikningar hans v\u00f6ktu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-frettir"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hafnarfjordur.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13132"}],"curies":[{"name":"WordPress","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}