South Dakota Art Museum celebrates 50 years on SDSU campus in Brookings

South Dakota Art Museum celebrates 50 years with two special exhibits

By SDAM Interim Director Jodi Lundgren

May 31, 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the first day that the public streamed through the doors of the museum then known as the South Dakota Memorial Art Center. The South Dakota Art Museum was built by community, built to serve and celebrate community and is still vital and vibrant because of the support and involvement of the communities and individuals it serves. The museum is also a testament to the spirit of the people of the state and the virtues of dedication, determination, resourcefulness, innovation, aspiration, humility and civic service.

After being closed during the spring to keep staff and visitors safe, the museum will reopen August 17 with two exhibits chosen in celebration of the anniversary. All Dunn: The Harvey Dunn Collection assembles all the SDAM Harvey Dunn works together in one gallery. The incredibly popular exhibit, first staged in 2015, includes massive salon-style groupings of Dunn’s work presented in a new form, with new works, and an anticipated tally of 145 works on extended display in honor of the 50th anniversary. 50 Works for 50 Years: Collections Retrospective brings together acquisitions from each of the 50 years the South Dakota Art Museum has been in existence, sharing the breadth, quality and significance of the museum’s permanent collection.

Harvey Dunn’s “Woman at the Pump,” oil on canvas, n.d., South Dakota Art Museum Collection.

The work of the SD Art Museum began long before the building was dedicated. It was seeded in the rich artistic traditions and cultural values of Oceti Sakowin communities, who have long been and remain integral partners to the museum in serving people through art. It was cultivated in the pioneering efforts of South Dakota State University’s first Art Professor, Ada Caldwell, who sparked a community interest in and appreciation of visual art across South Dakota in the early decades of the 20th century and encouraged a legendary artist named Harvey Dunn. It was galvanized in the South Dakota Federation of Women’s Clubs, who dreamt of a center to house the state’s artistic treasures, and convinced the South Dakota State Legislature to charter a museum to “honor the creative nature of mankind and serve as an inspiration to the people of South Dakota.” It was animated by South Dakota State University President H.M. Briggs, who committed the university to making the dream a reality. And it was finally manifested through the focus of prominent local businessman Elmer Sexauer, who was enlisted by Briggs to carry the ball across the finish line and worked with singular dedication to secure the final funds necessary to build the museum.

Archival photo: South Dakota Memorial Art Center dedication at South Dakota State University, 1970. Photo courtesy of South Dakota State University , Archives and Special Collections, Hilton M. Briggs Library.

The transformative, grounding and elevating power of visual art to deepen and enrich ourselves and our communities is both the foundation of the museum and its focus today. Serving people and strengthening communities through all art has to offer is both our tradition and our aspiration. The South Dakota Art Museum is proud of all it has accomplished in its 50-year history, all of the efforts that built up to that first 50 years, and is excited to bring so many more fruits of art to the people it serves in the next 50 years. Visit www.sdstate.edu/south-dakota-art-museum to learn more.