by The South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings has a collection of more than 7,000 works by South Dakota artists. Since South Dakota is our home state now, we thought we should check it out.
The museum does not display a permanent collection, but instead hosts exhibitions, which means that each visit would be a new experience. However, the museum has 140 works by Harvey Dunn, which are used as the launching pad for many exhibits.
During our visit, a highlight was the exhibit “The Prairie is My Garden”, named after Harvey Dunn’s quintessential painting.
Dunn (1884-1952) was a native of South Dakota and a former student at South Dakota State University, where the museum is located. He obtained artistic instruction from illustrator Howard Pyle, becoming part of the group of artists known as the “Brandywine School.” Pyle was also the instructor of N.C. Wyeth, who best man at Dunn’s wedding! We saw many of Pyle’s works when we visited Delaware.
While driving around the northeast corner of South Dakota, we were struck by the dramatic landscape, so different than the compressed spaces of the east coast we are used to.
The vast sky over a seemingly endless landscape is a wonder to behold, whether it’s a bright blue sky with enormous brilliant white clouds, or a black menacing storm rolling in.
These feelings are captured in the “The Prairie is My Garden” exhibit.
Another interesting exhibit during our visit was of Termespheres, which are “an optical illusion: an inside-out view of the total physical world around you on the outside surface of a hanging and rotating sphere.” Got that? They are the brainchild of Dick Termes, who was raised in South Dakota.
The cover photo to this post is Breaking Sod by Harvey Dunn, undated.
