Connecting with nature

South Dakota Arts Council Fellow Becky Grismer was born and raised in eastern South Dakota. After receiving her B.A. in Fine Art from Northern State University, she lived and worked in St. Paul, MN for several years before returning to South Dakota. Grismer has exhibited her work in both solo and group shows. Her work has been included in public collections and can be found in private collections throughout the world. Grismer currently creates her art in Spearfish.

Arts Alive: How has nature and your relationship to the natural world shaped you as an artist and as a person?

Becky Grismer: I use natural materials directly in my process and the characteristics of those materials inspire me and point me in new directions. I use plants to dye the paper for my mixed media wall pieces. I search for tree bark, stones, dried seeds and berries that I can use to create my sculptures. Nature has shaped me as a person by making me feel connected to the world around me in a significant way. With trees, I’ve found something that I have so much in common with, like meeting a new friend and growing a meaningful relationship with them. Touching earth/clay/plants makes me feel grounded and calm. It helps me remember that I’m organic material that is part of the earth. You don’t feel like that if you touch something plastic.

How will this Fellowship affect you and your work?

The Fellowship will allow a lot of things to happen, but one big thing is that it will help me work more efficiently. I’m in the process of renovating a larger studio space. My current space doesn’t allow for multiple work spaces and doesn’t accommodate the size of the work I’m making now, so it slows me down. Once I move into the new space, I can open up my studio to the community, and that will hopefully open up doors for other people, too. The Fellowship will allow me to take extra time in my studio practice to experiment. Also, my recent body of work has really large pieces and now I will be able to physically transport my large sculptures to other places in and out of the state.

Sculptures by Grismer, as well as her two-dimensional works, installed at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City. Photo by Skott Chandler.

Has growing up in South Dakota affected your art?

I spent a lot of time playing in tree patches as a kid. I also remember on the way to my grandparents’ house near Onaka and Aberdeen always looking for shelterbelts along the way where I could make a fort if I ever ran away from home. I was really drawn to flooded areas and liked watching the gradual changes as the trees died and became very stark looking. I thought it was so beautiful, especially when they got to the stage where all of the bark was gone and they were bleached white from the sun. I think all of those things about the landscape seeped in and grew with me. South Dakota was where I attended college and learned all of the foundational skills I use to create my art.

Where do you go from here as an artist?

Well, I think I plainly just keep going. Keep doing what I’m doing—practicing and trying to grow my technical skills, experimenting, paying attention to the things that stand out to me in the world, volunteering in the South Dakota arts community and continuing to focus on telling my own story. Hopefully that results in genuine expressions of myself that people can connect with.

I was very fortunate to receive an Artist Career Development Grant from the Arts Council when I was starting out, and I wouldn’t be where I am without that help. The Arts Council grants are investing in South Dakota artists, and I’ve gotten to experience just how important that can be for an artist—and how those investments create positive ripples that extend outward into the world.

—Becky Grismer