GEARHART — Royal Nebeker, a world-renowned painter, printmaker and teacher on the North Coast, died Saturday morning.

“He fought long and hard against cancer. He always said ‘I am not going to die from cancer,’” his family said in a statement. “In his weakened condition he had contracted the flu, collapsed at home, and died at Providence (Seaside) Hospital surrounded by his family.”

He is survived by wife Sarah Nebeker, a Clatsop County commissioner; sons Israel Nebeker, lead singer of the band Blind Pilot, and Wade Charles Nebeker, a stylist for Nordstrom; and daughter Hannah Liberty Nebeker, a teacher and staff member at Fire Mountain School in Arch Cape.

“Royal brought a unique and passionate exuberance to our lives,” said Sarah. “He taught us to see and appreciate beauty and quality. He loved people. Royal’s work portrayed our shared human existence. He loved life, lived it with intensity, high ideals, spiritual commitment, resourcefulness and a sense of adventure.”

Nebeker’s work has shown across the world, from the Louvre in Paris to the galleries of Astoria and Clatsop Community College, where he taught for more than 35 years. His career primarily focused on the human figure, with influences from Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, the German Expressionists and by the Vienna Secessionist artists Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and others.

His most recent exhibition, “Royal Nebeker: An Artist’s Journey,” has been on tour in several museums around the country, most recently the Schneider Museum of Art in Ashland, where its run was extended through 4 p.m. today after news of Nebeker’s death.

The book “Dreams and Allusions: The Work of Royal Nebeker,” written in 2011 by art historian Richard V. West, chronicles Nebeker’s work.

“My father was an incredible teacher and he gave the best advice,” said Hannah Nebeker. “His view of the world was spiritual and beautiful and he shared that vision with all he touched. He loved children and they loved him. His impact on others was profound, fun joyous and contagious.”

Still battling cancer, Nebeker recently returned to teach a printmaking class at CCC over the summer. He had been a full-time faculty member of CCC’s art program from 1978 to 2004 and continued teaching and showing there afterward.

“He helped put together a world-class program,” said ceramics instructor Richard Rowland, who had worked with Nebeker since the 1990s. “He taught the way that he painted. He was able to sort of have this … intimacy with real contact, both with the students and with his own paintings.”

As director of the college’s art department during his tenure as faculty, he oversaw the growth and development of the art program and gallery.

He had also been a visiting artist-teacher and guest lecturer at Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland State University and the University of Oregon, among others.

After learning of Nebeker’s death, his friends and former students took to his Facebook page to pay homage.

“Friend, mentor, seer, you will be missed by so many,” said fellow printmaker Stirling Gorsuch, a student of Nebeker who said his instructor encouraged him onward to Oregon State University in pursuit of a printmaking career.

“His loss is huge to our own art community as well as a broader one,” added Teri Sund, owner of Astoria’s Imogen Gallery. “There are few local artists I can think of, gracing the walls of our local galleries, who were not impacted by Royal’s spirit and love of the visual language.”

Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed Nebeker to two consecutive four-year terms on the Oregon Arts Commission, on which he served from 2006 to 2014.

“Royal was a practicing and prolific artist,” Christine D’Arcy, director of the commission during Nebeker’s tenure, said. “He brought his perspective on what the state could do to improve the condition of artists in Oregon. He set the tone for being a professional artist on the North Coast.”

Born in San Francisco in 1945 to a Norwegian mother and Danish/Swiss father, Nebeker had lifelong fascination with Norwegian art and culture. He studied in California at the Claremont College and Otis Art Institute, earned a master’s in fine arts from Brigham Young University in 1970 and completed a postgraduate degree from the National School of Fine Arts in Oslo, Norway, in 1972.

He’s primarily lived on the North Coast since 1974. The area attracted him because of its likeness to Norway, an important muse for Nebeker.

Possibly the most visible remembrance of Nebeker is his studio, the red Union Fishermen’s Cooperative Uppertown Net Loft projecting into the Columbia River at 31st Street. The former storage shed for fish and fishing gear, owned by Nebeker and his wife since the beginning of the 21st century, served as his studio and a studio for invited artists.

When the Great Coastal Gale pounded Clatsop County in 2007, the building was almost swept away. The building suffered extensive damage to its upper half when winds topping 100 mph whipped down the river. Nebeker and a friend were trapped inside for 20 hours but escaped unharmed. He raised money to repair the net shed and continued to use it as a studio.

Nebeker had been trying to turn the Net Loft into a cooperative of artists’ lofts. It was recently added by the Historic Preservation League of Oregon to the state’s list of most endangered buildings.

“My dad lived his life reflecting the beauty he saw in everything and everyone,” said Israel Nebeker. “He had true vision and also the patience and perseverance it takes to show that vision to others. He dreamed big. And he believed.”

‘He dreamed big. And he believed.’

— Israel Nebeker

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