Long before Albert Lea native David Nordahl gained notoriety for his paintings of Apache Indians and his work as Michael Jackson’s personal artist, he painted and sketched for local residents.

Whether it was a portrait, a landscape sketch or a set design for a play, Nordahl used his talents throughout the community. Even when he was still a youth, he became known for his abilities and dedication to his artwork.

Though he is no longer in Albert Lea, his name lives on in artwork left behind.

The following are 10 examples of his early works, which are now in the homes of Albert Lea residents. The residents contacted the Tribune with their stories.

Darrel Wolff

Wolff, who described Nordahl as a talented, quiet person, has three pieces of artwork created by the artist.

The first two are pencil sketches of Wolff and the third is a painting of him.

Wolff said it would only take Nordahl 15 to 20 minutes to do a sketch.

All three were created in 1958, when Nordahl was still at Albert Lea High School. He was two years younger than Wolff.

Gary Iverson

Iverson, who was one of Nordahl’s ALHS classmates, got his Nordahl painting after he took pictures of a series of 14 or 15 paintings the artist had completed to submit to The Saturday Evening Post.

Nordahl asked him what he owed him for helping him out, and Iverson said he told him he didn’t owe him anything.

In the end, Nordahl let him choose a painting to keep from his studio above the Carl Sondergard service station.

The painting, which depicts something similar to a pub, was created in 1959.

“He was very talented as far as I was concerned,” Iverson said.

He recalled Nordahl going out on the noon hour to pinstripe cars, he said. He would do so freehanded.

“I spent many noon hours watching him,” Iverson said.

Linda Pederson

In the basement of Pederson’s house is a piece of the set from the Albert Lea Civic Theatre production of “Annie Get Your Gun” in 1966.

During this year, Nordahl created all of the sets for the play, which featured Pederson’s father, Sanford Egge, as Buffalo Bill.

Though the original set piece has been cut off so it can hang in the basement, Nordahl’s signature can still be seen.

Julie Okonek

Okonek said she never met Nordahl in person but actually came across two of his chalk drawings at an estate sale one or two years ago.

The drawings are of a man reading a book and a man playing a banjo.

She said she’s not sure what year they were made or who had them before her.

When she bought them, she actually didn’t know who Nordahl was. But after researching him online, she found out he was Jackson’s personal artist.

Okonek said she tried putting them on eBay, but they didn’t sell.

“Maybe it wasn’t the right time,” Okonek noted. “They are for sale again.”

Marlene Olson

Olson, who was good friends with Nordahl’s first wife, Sharon Kurth, said she can’t remember where she got three duo-tone posters that Nordahl designed.

The posters, made in the early 1960s, feature Sonny and Cher, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

The posters used to hang side by side, but recently they have been rolled up and in storage, Olson said.

Though she knew Kurth more than she knew Nordahl, she said both “marched to the beat of a different drum.”

“I just remember him being quiet,” she said.

Neil Lang

Lang, a close friend of Nordahl’s who worked with him at Church Offset Printing, said he went to the artist to design a poster when he first started Neil Lang’s Combo.

Nordahl came up with the composition of the advertisement, and it was printed at Church Offset.

Nordahl was “very extremely talented,” Lang said. “I can remember at that time looking at a painting when I would have sworn those horses would have run off the page,” he said. “He was an amazing realist.”

Arnold Stadheim

Stadheim said he and his late wife, Evelyn, heard about Nordahl through local residents Dave Bothum and Dan Kruse.

The couple sent him a photograph of their four children at the time — Beth, Steve, Paula and Mark — and asked him if he could create a painting with them in it.

They received the painting on Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. It ended up being his wife’s Christmas present to him, Stadheim said.

“He apparently could do this very fast,” he said. “It’s something we’ve always enjoyed.”

Wayne and Shirley Gunderson

The Gundersons’ silkscreen print of an Indian was given to him by a mutual friend of Nordahl’s named Larry Mohr.

Wayne Gunderson said because he worked with Nordahl in the 1960s at Church Offset Printing, Mohr gave Gunderson the silkscreen print because he thought he’d like the piece.

He was unsure when the original was made but the print is dated 1979.

“He’s very gifted,” said Shirley Gunderson of Nordahl. “I think he had more talent than he gave himself credit for.”

She described him as a “free spirit,” and someone who was always pleasant.

“We think he was a wonderful artist and a very nice man,” she said. “It’s just a joy to know him and be part of his life.”

The couple said they last touched bases with him four years ago.

Roger L. and Phyllis Sorenson

Phyllis Sorenson said in 1958 someone told her about a young man who “was very good at artistry.”

He was taking pictures at the time from people who wanted portraits, so she thought she’d take him a photo of her then 2-year-old daughter, Diane.

“I often wondered whatever became of him, and here he became Jackson’s top artist,” Sorenson said.

Mike Kruse, Church Offset Printing

In the hallway of Church Offset Printing hangs a landscape sketch created by David Nordahl.

Though the artist no longer works at the company, it is a reminder of his time as an artist for the business.

Hired by Dan Kruse, Nordahl worked for the company right out of high school and was a man with God-given talent, said Mike Kruse, who is now the president of the company.

Before the advent of the computer, everything the company did was hand-drawn or line-drawn, the president said.

Nordahl has credited much of his early development as an artist to the time he spent at Church Offset Printing.