About Gert Rasmussen

I have always been interested in art, starting with drawing on the little blackboard we had in my childhood home in Copenhagen, Denmark. At fifteen, I started as an apprentice in the steel industry, and in 1975 I moved my family to Sweden, where I worked in the smithy of Kosta Boda Glasbruk. They had the real thing going with forges and anvils and all, and they let me play around after working hours - often till the wee hours of the morning. At Kosta Boda we worked directly with the artists behind the designs. Artists like Bertil Wallin, Karl Kihlberg and Monica Baeckstroem. I even went to the glass school at Emmaboda Glasbruk.

In 1981 I returned to Denmark. I started working with silver and precious stones, making jewelry, bowls and small sculptural work. During all this time I never stopped drawing and painting, which got me into some public art projects, involving and instructing junior high school students, making sculptures at some schools in Copenhagen. On the side I took up blacksmithing again just for the fun of it.

In the meantime I got married to an american, who after some years in Denmark wanted to go back to the States. I followed and worked in the wine business in Lake county for a few years. We later moved to Mendocino, where we bought a courier business. I kept smithing whenever there was time. Pretty soon, I got a few commissions, and won a couple of best of show prizes at Gualala Art Center and Mendocino Art and Craft show. I work a lot in the Mendocino Art Center's sculpture department, where it is always a joy to share the knowledge with boys and girls young and old in the fascinating world of fire and metal.

I would like to thank Kelly Cline and Rasmus Rasmussen for some of the photography on this site. To contact me, please send an e-mail to gert@grasart.com.