ArtsSouthDakota.org • Fall 2023 Member Edition • I
Little Plastic Horses by Lindsay Twa
On the cover: Every two years, the
Governor’s Biennial Art Exhibition preserves a snapshot of the visual arts in South Dakota. Sixty-nine artists were selected to join the 2023 exhibition. Nobody Flies Alone by Angela Behrends, was one of the selections, along with the pieces featured on these two pages. See the biennial show at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City from December 8 to March 30.
inside FALL 2023 | VOLUME 25 02 Celebrating Where We Are Lifting up our artists and performers. By Jim Mathis
03 Donor Spotlights Champions of the arts.
04 N othing Effects Change Lessons learned in an unprecedented time. By Patrick Baker
06 Marty Two Bulls Jr. Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate 2023 – 2024. By Chad Coppess Tapped (out) by Becky Grismer
08 Keith BraveHeart Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate 2023 – 2024. By Chad Coppess
10 A Day in the Life South Dakota’s new poet laureate wants to capture the present. By John Andrews
13 Brushing Up Happenings in the South Dakota arts world.
19 Careers in the Arts
Field Below Bluff by Sharon Gray
Illustration by Vincent Hofer
22 Supporters PFD by Jordan Eaton
Need to change your Arts Alive mailing address? Contact Arts South Dakota directly! Email us at
info@ArtsSouthDakota.org or visit the Contact Us page at www.ArtsSouthDakota.org. Please give us the current name and address to which Arts Alive is being mailed, along with your new mailing address information. Arts Alive is published by Arts South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council in partnership with South Dakota Magazine. Contact Arts South Dakota at P.O. Box 2496, Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496 or by phone (605) 252-5979. ArtsSouthDakota.org • Fall 2023 Member Edition • 1
BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR: Jim Mathis, Sioux Falls VICE-CHAIR: Michael Pangburn, Pierre SECRETARY: Keith BraveHeart, Kyle TREASURER: Patri Acevedo Fuentes, Rapid City Stacy Braun, Aberdeen Lawrence Diggs, Roslyn Julie Garreau, Eagle Butte Rodney Garnett, Spearfish Deonne Kahler, Rapid City Dr. Alan LaFave, Valley City, ND Sen. Reynold Nesiba, Sioux Falls Ashley Pourier, Pine Ridge Kenny Putnam, Rapid City Larry Rohrer, Beresford Rep. Tamara St. John, Sisseton Shelley Stingley, Sioux Falls Lynn Verschoor, Brookings Kris Wollman, Mitchell STAFF Jim Speirs Executive Director jim@ArtsSouthDakota.org (605) 252-5979, Ext. 0 Shari Kosel Program and Communications Director shari@ArtsSouthDakota.org (605) 252-5979, Ext. 1 Andrew Reinartz Community Development Director andrew@ArtsSouthDakota.org (605) 252-5979, Ext. 2 Sarah Larson Communications Coordinator sarah@ArtsSouthDakota.org (605) 252-5979, Ext. 3 Arts South Dakota PO Box 2496, Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496 (605) 252-5979 Email: info@ArtsSouthDakota.org ArtsSouthDakota.org Follow us on Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram @ArtsSD
Where We Are, Where We Are Going By Jim Mathis, Chair of the Arts South Dakota Board of Directors
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HE ARTS have played a pivotal role at many times in my life. As a child, I had a small part in the school play where I got to interact with the audience, and something sparked for me in that moment. Later, I’d spend afternoons at the Des Moines Art Center, marveling at the big, beautiful Claes Oldenburg’s Three-Way Plug, and the intricacy of August Rodin’s study for The Burghers of Calais. We’d spend hours with works as varied as Lichtenstein, Warhol, Hopper and Renoir. In middle school I was chosen to play Conrad Birdie in Bye, Bye Birdie; other roles followed, and I dove headfirst into speech, theater and show choir. That led to college scholarships and eventually a career in marketing. About 30 years ago, I took advantage of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin as the backdrop to propose to Kara, the love of my life. Today, I still marvel at live performances (though now I’m in the audience), and I am inspired by visual arts and music. My role now is to lift up artists and performers, to give emerging voices an audience and support the fragile yet thriving creative ecosystem here in South Dakota. I am honored to serve as the new chair of the Arts South Dakota Board of Directors. While Arts South Dakota is a relatively young organization, we are growing and strong. We have a solid financial footing, we’re doing great things like the Arts Leadership Institute last spring in Sioux Falls, and the Arts Education Institute in Aberdeen in July. Now we are looking forward to rolling out the results of the Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 study in partnership with Americans for the Arts. This research will provide valuable insight into the economic value of the arts in South Dakota and across the nation. More than 2,500 surveys were completed in South Dakota, giving us specific, localized data for Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Brookings, Yankton and Spearfish. We are excited to share the results with you. Thank you to the many people who make this possible, from the donors, sponsors, and volunteers to our hard-working and dedicated staff.
This partnership is made possible with funds from the State of South Dakota through the Department of Tourism and from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Donor Spotlights A CHAMPION OF THE ARTS
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OR SOMEONE who always wanted to be an artist, donating to Arts South Dakota is one way Jacque Fuller of Lead can be a champion of the arts. Through her support, she is happy to see the arts continue and expand in our state. “I think just appreciating art enriches your life,” she says. While
dabbling in pottery, painting and gardening, Fuller will suddenly find herself unconsciously singing. “I have no musical ability, but ‘Happy Talk’ from ‘South Pacific’ or the song, ‘Climb Every Mountain’ just seem to come out of my mouth,” she laughs. “It makes everything better.” Moving forward with whatever artistic impulses a person has is important, Fuller says. “If you don’t use some of those creative suggestions, you lose them. Plus creativity can lead to total relaxation.” Fuller is a retired speech and language clinician in the Lead-Deadwood schools. She served eight years on the Lead City Commission and
UPLIFTING THE ARTS THROUGH MUSIC
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ike and Judy Connor of Sioux Falls are familiar to music fans in the area as both educators and performers. Mike began performing when he was 13, and is a three-time South Dakota Rock and Rollers Hall of Fame inductee. Both Mike and Judy taught music, and for years they were involved with the beloved South Dakota Acoustic Christmas performances. In a sparsely-populated state, strong organizations like Arts South Dakota and the South Dakota Arts Council are important to the Connors, and their donations give them peace of mind that the arts will continue to flourish in South Dakota. “Judy was an intern with the South Dakota Arts Council and they supported me with a touring program early on,” Mike says. “Charlotte Carver (the first executive director of the South Dakota Arts Council) was very influential in our careers.” Now retired, Mike enjoys playing in The Shamrockers with musicians Boyd Bristow and Guy Gullickson. He also performs several gigs a year with fiddler Kenny Putnam, playing at festivals, reunions and crowded shows at the Levitt in Sioux Falls. This winter Connor and Putnam will perform a Christmas show titled “Fiddlers and Friends,” debuting in Watertown and Rapid City.
one term as mayor. She was instrumental in the preservation of the historic Homestake Opera House on Lead’s Main Street, and also spearheaded the charge to rebuild after the catastrophic opera house fire in 1984. She has served on many arts boards at the city, state and national levels. “Historic preservation is a celebration of the arts,” she says of her opera house efforts. “I believe in all the arts, and I hope we can expand the arts curriculum in every elementary and high school. People who are involved in the arts are more interesting and more interested in other things.”
A STATE AGENCY OF TRAVEL SOUTH DAKOTA Kristi Noem, Governor James D. Hagen, Secretary BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR: Joanna Lawler, Rapid City VICE-CHAIR: John Mogen, Sioux Falls SECRETARY: Nan Venhuizen, Sioux Falls TREASURER: Dohui Kim, Sioux Falls Roger Broer, Hill City Mary Bordeaux, Rapid City Lee Ann Roripaugh, Vermillion Jane Rasmussen, Sisseton Cristen Roghair, Okaton Joshua Spies, Sioux Falls Jim Walker, Bath STAFF Patrick Baker Executive Director patrick.baker@state.sd.us (605) 773-5507 Rebecca Cruse Deputy Director rebecca.cruse@state.sd.us (605) 295-4052 Kathryn Vandel Grant Specialist kathryn.vandel@state.sd.us (605) 773-5925 Sarah Carlson Program Coordinator sarah.carlson@state.sd.us (605) 773-3102 Anne Hatch S.D. Folk & Traditional Arts, Program Coordinator sdtraditionalarts@outlook.com (605) 608-0490 South Dakota Arts Council 711 E. Wells Avenue Pierre, SD 57501 Fax: (605) 773-5977 Email: sdac@state.sd.us ArtsCouncil.sd.gov Follow us on Facebook, X, YouTube and Instagram @SouthDakotaArts
Nothing Effects Change Quite Like Change By Patrick Baker, Executive Director South Dakota Arts Council
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.T. BARNUM’S famous quote “nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd” seems like circular logic at first blush, but, somehow, it’s innately true. “Nothing effects change quite like change” is likely a more dubious claim, especially coming from the seat of bureaucracy: government. However, I’ve experienced that truth first-hand at the South Dakota Arts Council. We’re still feeling the effects of change from the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps especially in the arts sector where audience numbers are still on the rebound; and we’ve only just completed federal and state reporting on the many pandemic-relief grants awarded by the South Dakota Arts Council during this time. We had to adapt our work to stay true to our mission of serving South Dakotans and their communities through the arts. We created new programs on the fly to issue roughly $1.4 million in relief grants over two-plus years while maintaining our traditional grantmaking. We also learned how to support community recovery through the arts, connect virtually, work from home and change the way we conducted business. On a larger scale, we all took time to consider what matters most and how change has led to improvement. We learned that many practices and systems were carried out due to habit, and when we took stock of everything, the need for continued change was evident. While it’s hard to look for a silver lining in the profound misfortune that took the lives and livelihoods of so many, there was a bright side for South Dakota’s state arts agency: adapting conditioned us to get comfortable with change. And getting acquainted with adjustment emboldened us to take big strides. Here are three of our biggest, most positive changes: We scrapped our traditional model of gathering feedback for strategic planning when COVID-19 forced the cancellation of our regional public-input meetings scheduled for the spring of 2020. We reimagined the process and focused on recruiting, training and paying artist researchers to conduct interviews with members of their community to seek advice on how SDAC can better serve the statewide arts community. We quit talking about conducting a full evaluation of our grant programs and started planning how to carry out the process. That journey began in 2023 with the help of organizational-change agent 8 Bridges Workshop, and SDAC hopes to emerge with reimagined grant programs that better serve artists, arts organizations, and arts ecosystems across South Dakota while improving the efficiency of our small team to administer them. We have been working on a website redesign to modernize and organize our online presence. While the redesign is long overdue, the launch date is coming into focus. My hope for South Dakota and the world is that we never have to endure another pandemic. But since we all had no choice but to wade our way through COVID-19 together, I’m at least happy to have learned that nothing effects change quite like change. South Dakota Arts Council receives support from the State of South Dakota, through Travel South Dakota, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
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Johnny Sundby
Marty Two Bulls Jr.
Traditional Artifact # 16 (above), 2019. Glazed ceramic. 11" x 7" x 7" Manifest Destiny (right), 2011. Cyanotype, acrylic on paper. 17" x 12" Americana In Memoriam (opposite page), 2023. Site specific installation. Paper, charcoal, acrylic, spray paint, mylar, found bottles, found trash cans, machine wire, barbed wire. 20' x 20' x 20'
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Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate 2023 – 2024 Story by Chad Coppess
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arty Two Bulls Jr. was destined to express himself artistically. “Each generation of the Two Bulls tiospaye has its artists,” he says. “Painters, bead workers and musicians.” Two Bulls’ father, a well-known visual artist and illustrator, guided Two Bulls through his artistic journey. In his father’s studio, Two Bulls learned sculpture, illustration, graphic design and how to make a living in the arts. Now Two Bulls, who grew up in Rapid City, is one of the first to be named Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate. The tribe asked him and Keith BraveHeart (fellow Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate) to create a winter count, which has not been done in many years. “A winter count is a visual representation of important events in tribal
history,” says Two Bulls. “We hope to create ours using traditional materials like bison hide.” Before becoming a teacher at Oglala Lakota College in 2017, Two Bulls studied printmaking and ceramics at the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 2011. After graduation, he remained in Santa Fe where he worked in galleries and met contemporary artists from around the world. Since returning home, Two Bulls has developed a graphic arts program for Oglala Lakota College and has displayed his work nationally and internationally. Two Bulls is happy to see his students’ success. “Some of them are going off and doing really great things,” he says. “I didn’t anticipate teaching being so beneficial to me and my art, but it has been.”
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Aaron Packard
Keith BraveHeart
Oglala Sioux Tribe Artist Laureate 2023 – 2024 Story by Chad Coppess
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riginally, Keith BraveHeart hesitated at the thought of the attention his new title of “Artist Laureate” might draw. But he also saw that it offers an opportunity to teach, share with and encourage other artists. BraveHeart is an associate professor of art at Oglala Lakota College. “This is the type of work I’ve been plugging away at for a while with many state organizations, including Arts South Dakota” he says. “Maybe it’s meant to be.” Eventually he hopes to enrich Native arts throughout the state. Serving as Artist Laureate within the Oglala Sioux Tribe allows him to work with a smaller group of people — his own tribe. BraveHeart grew up in Kyle and teaches alongside fellow Artist Laureate Marty Two Bulls Jr. “We have combined our forces to enrich the vision. It sends a message that there is a need for sharing and helping,” BraveHeart says. He concentrates on creating contemporary art, heavily influenced by his Native American culture. “There is no Lakota word for art,” BraveHeart reflects. “I am only doing what I was born to do.” With degrees from the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico and the University of South Dakota, BraveHeart also works with young Native American artists through the Oscar Howe Summer Art Institute, an annual program at USD. He also serves on the Arts South Dakota board of directors. BraveHeart has donated the monetary portion of the Artist Laureate position back to the tribe for establishment of the Oglala Lakota Arts Society.
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Winyan Yuonihanpi [Respected Woman] (opposite page) 2020. Acrylic on canvas, 35.5" x 26" Wowicala Iciwayankapi [Differences in Worldviews] (above), 2018. Acrylic on unstretched canvas, 60.5" x 103.5" Waziyata [North] (left), 2022. Acrylic on canvas, 24" x 30"
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A Day in the Life
South Dakota’s new poet laureate wants to capture the present Story by John Andrews
Poet Laureate Bruce Roseland speaks at the Festival of Books in Deadwood.
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RUCE ROSELAND admires Badger Clark, the man who lived a solitary life in a spartan Custer State Park cabin and wrote cowboy poetry that so reflected South Dakota’s rural lifestyle that he became the state’s first poet laureate in 1937. Clark was known for his witticisms and his ability to turn a word in just the right way, but Roseland’s appreciation is much simpler. “He wrote about his time and place,” Roseland says. “He used cowboy poetry to a great extent, and he did it well. But he was trying to capture the essence of what it was like to live in that time and place.” In many ways, that’s what Roseland’s work does, and it’s that philosophy he plans to carry through his term as South Dakota’s new poet laureate. Gov. Kristi Noem appointed him to the position in August upon the recommendation of the South Dakota State Poetry Society. His term runs through June 30, 2027. Roseland has written seven books, four of which have won national awards. His first book The Last Buffalo (2006) won the 2007 Wrangler Award for Excellence in Western Literature and Media, Poetry. He has won the Will Rogers Medallion Award in Western Poetry three times, for A Prairie Prayer (2008), Cowman (2018) and Heart of the Prairie (2021). Roseland is a fourth-generation cattle rancher who splits time between a home in Spearfish and the homestead near Seneca in Faulk County where his great-grandfather Gabriel Roseland settled. He credits those deep family roots and a desire to know more about Gabriel’s life on the Plains for sending him down the path of writing. “It must have been quite something to have been one of the first settlers out here,” he says. “What could it have been like? I’d love to know a
day in the life of my great-grandfather. But he didn’t write, and that’s what inspired me. I have just a few handme-down stories, and I’m sure if I could go back and ask, he’d say it was just another day. But if I could have known what happened on one of his regular days, that would have been of great interest to me.” Roseland studied at South Dakota State University in Brookings, where he served as editor of The Calliope, the forerunner of Oakwood, the school’s student literary magazine. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology at the University of North Dakota. In 1980, he returned to run the family farm. The ensuing decade, a bleak time for farmers, didn’t leave much time for writing. “I spent a lot of time thinking,” he says, “and the 1980s were definitely formative because they were tough times. Probably three out of five people my age had to leave, and it got me thinking. Why did people try so hard to stay? What was it that tied us to this land?” At the same time, he thought of Gabriel, and what tied his own family to their part of the prairie. “I could write a few of the stories that got passed on about him and other relatives, but I can also write about my times, because I look around and I ask myself, ‘Who is writing about north central South Dakota?’ I really couldn’t think of anybody. Twenty years from now, who would be around to tell the story of what it was like to live through this time? Because no matter what era we are in, it’s historical. There is no such thing as an ordinary day in the life of anyone. So I just started writing about a day in my life, things that struck me, neighbors, events. Something would happen and I’d think, ‘Gee, I should write about that.’” His late wife, Barbara, collected a few of Roseland’s writings and
submitted them to the North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies. An editor there helped shape the poems into Roseland’s first book, The Last Buffalo, published in 2006. Since then, he’s kept his eyes and ears open, carefully considering our daily lives. “When something strikes me, I write. I might see something — a lone tree along the road, or a snippet of a conversation — and I mull it over for a long time. Most of the things I write are 80 percent done the first time, but I might have spent a couple years thinking
A PRAIRIE PRAYER Here, on this arc of grass, sun and sky, I will stay and see if I thrive. Others leave. They say it’s too hard. I say hammer my spirit thin, spread it horizon to horizon, see if I break. Let the blizzards hit my face; let my skin feel the winter’s freeze; let the heat of summer’s extreme try to sear the flesh from my bones. Do I have what it takes to survive, or will I shatter and break? Hammer me thin, stretch me from horizon to horizon. I need to know the character that lies within. I want to touch a little further beyond my reach, for the something that I seek. Only then let my spirit be released. — from South Dakota in Poems, 2020
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about them. The other 20 percent, the rewrite, is the hard part, because that’s where you make it into something that other people can understand and want to read.” Roseland was a board member of the South Dakota State Poetry Society for 14 years and its president for eight before resigning to apply for the poet laureate position. He intends to remain active with the society, which recently launched Poetry on the
Road, a tour of 15 cities around the state funded through a grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council. Society members read their work and then an open mic session allows locals to share poems and feedback. He has also begun thinking about a South Dakota-centered poetry anthology, which he hopes to release before the end of his term. It’s all about making poetry more accessible to more South Dakotans.
CELEBRATE: WE WANT TO KNOW Sing to me of South Dakota, tell it like Carl Sandburg did about Chicago’s big shoulders. Tell me about the workers of infinite variety within this state. How goes their day? Tell me the what, tell me the why, tell me about a day in your life. Did Spring creep up on you one fine morning on cats’ feet as you beheld your first crocus with the snow of winter barely gone? Who has not had a night of the dark soul that broke on through to the other side? Did you light your candle on both ends with a flame oh so bright and now, years later, are you ever more wise? Have you climbed the former Harney’s Peak and from that vantage point seen five different states? Standing on the dome, did you hear Black Elk speak? Were the words whispered? Did they roar? Tell me. Tell me if Sioux Falls is the best little city, on a summer Friday evening’s air, 12 • South Dakota Arts Alive • ArtsCouncil.sd.gov
“Being poet laureate is not for the promotion of myself,” Roseland says. “It’s for the promotion of poetry in the state of South Dakota as a great means of communicating with each other. A poem is a little story about what we value. When we understand what folks value, and why, we can connect in a very real way. If, at the end of my four years, more people are writing poetry — or just plain writing — then I’ve been successful.”
as the young and the restless, arm in arm, slow dance down the sculpture walk on Phillips Avenue. Tell me about the endless prairie, quarter sectioned, row cropped and drilled. Tell me of short grass, cattle and small town bars, blue skies and red tail hawks, until you reach the distant Hills. Then sing to me of Rapid City’s Main Street Square popping to sounds of music mingling with the sunset colors rainbowing from the pulsing water fountain’s spray. Sing me all of South Dakota, sing me your life, for the good of poetry is the celebrating, the telling of the Golden Age of We. All that is blessed, all that is struggle, tell me your heart. Sing of yourself, sing South Dakota. I want to hear the voices of angels, I want to hear Walt Whitman’s barbaric yelps singing through you. — By Bruce Roseland, from Pasque Petals, 2018
BRUSHING UP
South Dakota
24TH ANNUAL ARTS EDUCATION INSTITUTE
Teachers and school administrators from across South Dakota gathered in July at the Northern State University campus in Aberdeen for the 24th annual Arts Education Institute. It was a funfilled, high-energy week of learning how to bring art into classrooms and curriculum development. SAVE THE DATE … The next Institute will be held July 15-17, 2024. Everyone is welcome to attend; you do not need to be an educator. All workshops are offered for graduate or continuing ed credits for teacher recertification. For more information visit www.ArtsSouthDakota.org.
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BRUSHING UP
Kyrie Dunkley (above) is featured in the film Elevate along with Moses Idris (below).
SHORT FILM FOLLOWING THE JOURNEY OF FOUR BIPOC ARTISTS AND CREATIVES
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ioux Falls’ multi-cultural artist community is expanding constantly as celebrated in a video produced by the Sioux Falls Arts Council. Elevate is a short film featuring BIPOC creatives in the area. BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Elevate asks if BIPOC artists are getting equal recognition in the Sioux Falls community. Four artists are showcased, discussing their work and what it means to be an artist. Kyrie Dunkley is a Dakota model and fashion designer who feels knowing the artist when purchasing artwork is important. She is hoping for a BIPOC art space to be created in Sioux Falls to further encourage local artists and makers. “The goal for this project was to help increase BIPOC visibility and my hope was to create a better understanding of what that means to me as an Indigenous female artist,” Dunkley said. “Having that inclusivity made me feel like my voice matters and that my time was valuable. Being able
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to showcase how my line of work helps not just my family but my friends and community was the most important aspect because having those collaborations with fellow BIPOC artists is how we can all succeed and lift each other up.” Hispanic ceramics artist Sonja Hernandez suggests that everyone is an artist of some sort and just needs inspiration to reach great heights. Moses Idris, a photographer, videographer and podcast host, said he loves the opportunity to share stories of opportunity with other artists. Finding the right community is important to filmmaker, musician and content creator Taylor Yocum. “Believe in others that believe in you,” he said in the film. Grants from Arts Midwest, Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation and Arts South Dakota Artist Emergency Relief Fund made the film possible in conjunction with Racing Magpie and the Sioux Falls Arts Council. View the film at Artssiouxfalls.org/programs/elevate-bipoc-artists.
South Dakota’s
CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION WINNER
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.S. REPRESENTATIVE Dusty Johnson announced Charlee Kolb of Sioux Falls as the winner of South Dakota’s 2023 Congressional Art Competition. Kolb’s drawing, titled I’ve Been Here Before, is a self portrait. Kolb is a junior at Jefferson High School. Her art teacher is Brittany Carmany. The art is on exhibit at the U.S. Capitol along with selected pieces from other congressional districts. Rachel Ziegeldorf, a sophomore at Mitchell High School, was awarded second place with a colored pencil piece titled Blotsma. It is displayed in Rep. Johnson’s Washington D.C. office through May 2024. Ziegeldorf’s teacher is Marica Shannon.
I’ve Been Here Before by Charlee Kolb
Blotsma by Rachel Ziegeldorf ArtsSouthDakota.org • Fall 2023 Member Edition • 15
NEA Chair Visits
EAGLE BUTTE’S RED CAN GRAFFITI JAM
ARTS SOUTH DAKOTA WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS Rodney Garnett has performed extensively
as a freelance musician. He became fascinated with cultural contexts for music while teaching at the University of Wyoming and touring with the Irish folk ensemble, Colcannon. He enjoys collaborating with musicians from Eastern Europe and Indonesia, assisting with music at Spearfish United Methodist Church and performing with pianist Janeen Larsen, guitarist Christine Davis and the Ward Johnston Quartet. “Artists help to reflect the wonderful diversity of our state,” Garnett says. “While political and economic entities may try to forge a specific identity for us, artists more accurately reflect the creative ways we live our lives. The creative power of every individual is essential for celebrating life in South Dakota.”
Deonne Kahler is a writer, educator, entre-
A team from the National Endowment for the Arts visited South Dakota last July to experience the state’s rich arts and culture scene and learn about challenges that artists and arts organizations face in rural America. They attended the Red Can Graffiti Jam in Eagle Butte and visited the Pine Ridge Reservation. Pictured are (from left) Ascala Tsegaye Sisk, Senior Deputy Chair; Julie Garreau, Executive Director of the Cheyenne River Youth Project; Maria Rosario Jackson, National Endowment for the Arts Chair; and Jen Hughes, Senior Advisor to the Chair. 16 • South Dakota Arts Alive • ArtsCouncil.sd.gov
preneur and award-winning photographer. She spent many years as a freelance writer and her personal essays have been featured in anthologies and magazines. She has taught creative writing, trained women coming off welfare to start micro-businesses and worked at The Feminist Press in New York City. She has an MFA in creative writing from the City University of New York and is currently focused on a project geared toward women working for positive change. “The arts are the heart and soul of a society. South Dakota is rich with artists and creators of all stripes, which means it’s not only a great place to live, it’s a fun and inspiring place to visit,” she says.
Ashley Pourier was an intern at The Her-
itage Center in Pine Ridge and later became an assistant in the gift shop. In 2014 she began work as the assistant curator. She is an alumni of Our Lady of Lourdes school in Porcupine and Red Cloud Indian High School. She earned a degree in fine arts at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2012. “I’m from a rural community where there’s not a lot of large group opportunities,” Pourier says. “For us, small painting circles, crafting circles and singing circles bring people together. I’m looking forward to creating and collaborating with other communities to learn what’s worked for them.”
Alison Curley
BRUSHING UP
Rapid City musician Nancy Williams, with her clarinet along Box Elder Creek.
ARTS COUNCIL FELLOWSHIPS ARE ‘PROPELLING’
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hat would you do with a $5,000 fellowship from the South Dakota Arts Council? Rapid City ceramic sculptor Yoko Sugawara invested in a larger kiln. Mark Zimmerman, an artist from Nemo, explored the Bad River — sketching, photographing and writing along the way. Randall Blaze rebuilt his studio. “I had an arts center up on the reservation at Cuny Table, and it burned a couple of years ago,” says the Native American visual artist. “I lost everything I owned so the fellowship was a way to start over. I am almost finished with it.” Fellowships play an important role in the state arts community because each honoree receives a $5,000 grant to support a project or particular need. A panel does extensive reviews of each applicant’s plans.
Nancy Williams, a classical musician in Rapid City, is also a 2023 fellow. Her project is multi-tiered, and includes performances as well as a marketing program for her method book, Woodwind Improvisatory Techniques. The text helps music students add improvisation to their solos. “During the classical period, there was a culture of improvisation in which the composers did not fully finish the composition. They expected the performers to do that,” she explains. The fellowships are both a recognition of past accomplishments as well as an investment in the artists’ future contributions. “This has already propelled my career in unexpected ways,” Williams says. Brookings artist Mark Stemwedel and Mitchell poet Barbara Duffey are also recipients of 2023 fellowships.
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BRUSHING UP South Dakota Arts Council
South Dakota Arts Council
GRANT DEADLINE MARCH 1
GRANT OPPORTUNITIES Opportunities for Artists:
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photo courtesy of Levitt Sioux Falls
HE APPLICATION PERIOD for South Dakota Arts Council grants opens Jan. 1, 2024 with a March 1 deadline. Visit ArtsCouncil.sd.gov for more information or to register for newsletter updates. South Dakota Arts Council grants are available for artists, organizations, schools, public arts programs and educational programs. All arts disciplines are available for funding. To find a perfect fit for your project, follow the South Dakota Arts Council on Facebook and view a schedule of grant conversations. The South Dakota Arts Council staff is available to assist applicants during business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday. Call (605) 773-3301 or email sdac@state.sd.us.
• A rtist Career Development Grants: $2,000 supporting any artist committed to advancing their work and careers. • Artist Fellowship: $5,000 rewards individual artistic excellence. • A rtist Collaboration Grants: $6,000 supports expanding the horizons and artistic base of collaborating artists. • A rtist Project Grants: up to $2,000, matched dollar for dollar, assists in presenting an arts activity or project that serves the general public. • T raditional Arts Apprenticeship Grants: up to $5,000 supports the continuation of South Dakota’s traditional arts and culture.
Opportunities for Organizations: Dallas Chief Eagle, a master of the hoop dance and a South Dakota Arts Council touring artist, works with children in Sioux Falls.
TIPS FOR GRANT APPLICANTS • Start with the Guide to Grants. In this guide, you will find an explanation of each grant category, eligibility requirements and an overview of the peer review panel process. • Use the resources posted on the Grant Applicant Portal, including sample applications (copies of the full application), narrative templates (a space for applicants to compose their responses offline to ensure accurate spelling and grammar) and 18 • South Dakota Arts Alive • ArtsCouncil.sd.gov
other planning resources. • Join the staff for our biweekly virtual watercooler chats. The full schedule is posted in the Applicant Portal. • Join our South Dakota Arts Council Grants Support Facebook group. Members can post questions to our staff or seek advice from other members to help improve grant applications. This is a public group monitored by South Dakota Arts Council staff.
• P roject Grants of up to $5,000 for presenting an arts activity that serves the general public. Project Grants must be matched at least dollar for dollar. • A rts Challenge Grants (nonprofit arts organizations only) provide assistance to South Dakota nonprofits, producing arts institutions and community arts councils with annual budgets of $20,000 or more.
Poetry Out Loud
SDAC ENCOURAGES NEW SCHOOLS TO PARTICIPATE
Olivia Bertino
P
Grace Powell (above) from Dakota Valley High School was the state champ in 2022 and competed at the National Finals in D.C.
OETRY OUT LOUD is a national arts education program created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, coordinated and sponsored statewide by the South Dakota Arts Council. The contest encourages youth to appreciate poetry as an oral art form. Participants learn public speaking skills, build confidence and learn about literature, culture and history. This year the SDAC hopes to have more schools participate. Poetry Out Loud coordinator Madison Lukomski is offering workshops to any interested classrooms or groups throughout the school year. If you are interested in bringing Poetry Out Loud to your classroom, please send an email to Madison.Lukomski@gmail.com. This year’s state competition is March 18 in Sioux Falls. The event is free and open to the public. Students who compete in the recitation program will have a shot at a $20,000 grand prize at the national finals event in Washington D.C., April 30 to May 2, 2024. For more information visit artscouncil.sd.gov/POL.
Campbell County
YOUTH DESIGN SELFIE MURALS
Small communities in rural Campbell County are having fun with the arts through the creation of several “selfie murals.” The cities of Herreid, Pollock and Mound City all have new murals created by students at the Herreid School District. The murals are the first visual art project for the Campbell County Arts Council, created in 2021.
ArtsSouthDakota.org • Fall 2023 Member Edition • 19
Supporters
F
or this issue of Arts Alive, we graciously recognize and honor our arts supporters across South Dakota. While you can still find our donor recognition list by gift level on ArtsSouthDakota.org, we want to recognize how the vibrant arts communities support each other statewide. These individuals and organizations believe in a strong collective voice for the arts, and demonstrate that by their membership gifts to Arts South Dakota. Their donations lead the way in advocating for a creative state, and we can’t do this important work without you all! Donors supporting the Arts South Dakota Annual Fund with a sustaining gift from July 1, 2021, to September 8, 2023 are listed below.
Mark and Rose Speirs Mary and Mark Zimmerman
Huron
Dell Rapids
LaBolt
Allen and Gloria Brown Joan C. Rasmusson
Eagle Butte
*Julie Garreau
Faulkton
Faulkton Area Arts Council Linda Bartholomew Jody and Jim Moritz
Fort Pierre
Major Gifts A special thank you to Janet M. Kahler and her daughter *Deonne Kahler, De & Dave Knudson, and Jim & Kara Mathis for their significant gifts to Arts South Dakota. Their belief in a creative South Dakota and accompanying financial support will help drive this important work forward!
South Dakota Individual & Organizational Donors by City Aberdeen
Aberdeen Area Arts Council Dacotah Prairie Museum Hardly Working Promotions, LLC *Stacy & LeRoy Braun Laurel Foster Roxanne Hinze Cassandra Mraz Melissa Nguyen Betty Sheldon Dan Van Dover Kathleen Webb
Beresford
*Larry & Marilyn Rohrer
Brookings
South Dakota Art Museum Tim and Monica Campbell
Mary and Kurt Cogswell Margaret Denton Van and Barbara Fishback Tom Fishback Marilyn Foerster Bette Gerberding Linda Hoffelt Dennis Hopfinger and Carolyn Clague James and Ardis Johnson Karen & Keith Kinder Jim McKinney Doug and Mary Miller David Reynolds Linda Stuerman-Purrington *Lynn Verschoor Merritt and Pamela Warren
Chancellor
Kay Cimpl Wagner
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation
Custer
Custer Area Arts Council Nancy Anne Barker Mary Jo Marcy
De Smet
Amy Kruse
Deadwood
Green Ink Gallery & Studios
22 • South Dakota Arts Alive • ArtsCouncil.sd.gov
Waterfront Gallery for the Arts Dave and Linda Bonde William V. Fischer Patricia Miller Daniel and Rebecca Schenk Lonnie Schumacher Barbara Wood Sandy Zinter
Glenham
Debby Walker
Herreid
Andrew & Sheila Van Kuren
Hill City
Artforms Black Hills Film Festival Hill City Arts Council Warrior’s Work & Ben West Gallery Roger and Merlene Broer Jon & Gail Crane Cheryl Whetham and Jukka Huhtiniemi Lesta and Mike Turchen
Hot Springs
Chautauqua Craftsmen & Artisans of the Black Hills Brad Richardson Jan Speirs
Houghton
Herseth Ranch
Beth Brenner Ron and Linda Anderson
Lead
Historic Homestake Opera House Historic Lead Deadwood Arts Council Johns & Kosel Law, LLC Jacqualyn Fuller Joe and Shari Kosel Dan and Dot O’Connor
Madison
Madison Area Arts Council Dr. Larry Green Donna Hazelwood Terry and Mary Ryan
Martin
Rosemary Buchmann Dr. Craig Howe
Mitchell
Area Community Theatre of Mitchell Marica Shannon *Kristine Wollman
Okaton
Cristen J. Roghair
Onida
Rodney and Marla Mosiman
Parker
Rolf Olson & Anne E. Waltner
Pierre
Pierre Players Inc. Nancy and Mike Baker Patrick and Jennifer Baker Susan Burgard Kay Decker Karen A. Gerdes Jeff and Darlene Hallem Arline Hammer Steve and Monica Harding Helen Harryman Mikel and Deborah Holland Larry and Mary Jo Johnson
ArtsSouthDakota.org
Diane Kehrwald Ellen and Tom Lee Dorothy Liegl Larry and Gail Lyngstad Jay and Beverly Mickelson Mike and Kathi Mueller Sandra Nelson Laura Norton *Michael Pangburn Ken and Lavonne Pickering Eric and Ruth Raveling Randall & Teri Royer Chuck and Bonny Schroyer Tami Steffensen Kate and Andy Vandel Roberta Williams Ron and Glenda Woodburn
Plankinton
Verna L. Edinger
Rapid City
Black Hills Symphony Orchestra Black Hills Works Dahl Fine Arts Center & Rapid City Arts Council Dakota Artists Guild Mt. Rushmore Chapter of SPEBSQSA, Inc. Shrine of Democracy Chorus Shoemaker Visual Art Studio The Black Hills Playhouse *Patri Acevedo Fuentes Stanford and Lynda Adelstein Carol Bailey John and Anne Barlow Bonnie and Tim Bjork Jim and Glenna Books Mark & Katie Bray John E. Brockelsby Susan Callahan Ann and Tim Deckert Tony Diem Don and Mary Downs Michael and Marnie Gould Susan Hines Janet M. Kahler Christine Leichtnam Joy McCracken Mark and Kristol McKie Deborah Mitchell Sandra Newman
Tamara Pier *Kenny and Linnea Putnam Patrick Roseland Carol and Carl Schwarzenberg Marty Seim Clayton and Anella Southwick James and Cary Speirs Anna Marie Thatcher Hon. Jeffrey L. Viken Milo Winter Steven Zellmer and Kitty Kinsman
Roslyn
*Lawrence Diggs Monte & Fran Rougemont
Salem
LeEtta Bennett
Scotland
Frank Kloucek
Sioux Falls
Augustana University School of Music Avera Health Badger Clark Foundation Great Plains Watercolor Society Levitt at the Falls Sanford Arts at Sanford USD Medical Center SculptureWalk Sioux Falls South Dakota Friends of Traditional Music South Dakota Symphony Orchestra The Center for Western Studies, Augustana University Washington Pavilion Wolf Bronze Phil and Jill Baker Dar Berkenpas & Boyd Bristow Melanie and Norman Bliss Bill and Cathy Britton Dick Brown Janet Brown Lynne and Bill Byrne Linda Clement Mike and Judy Connor Kris and Steve Egger Lyle Ehlers Carla Fauske and Peter Lieberman Doris Graeber Dirk & Constanze Hagmaier
Bruce and Nancy Halverson Mr. Peter J. Hauff Phil and Kiki Hegg Connie Herring Heather Hitterdal Josh and Rose Ann Hofland Dody and Boyd Hopkins Jon Hovland Richard A. Johnson Corliss and Anne Johnson Lori Johnson Scott and Marianne Johnson Lynne Jones Robert Joyce Phil and Diana Kappen Anita Kealey and John Brannian Dan and Arlene Kirby Deanna and Dave Knudson Dick and Cindy Koch Cheryl Koch Mark Law Katrina Lehr-McKinney *Jim and Kara Mathis David Medema *Senator Reynold Nesiba Janice Nicolay Nancy Olive Judith Payne Dr. Boyd and Jessica Perkins Byron Petersen Kris Reaves Andrew and Rosanne Reinartz Kay Reinartz Betsy Rice Thea and Tim Ryan Kristi Saxlund Jeff and Katie Scherschligt Miles and Vickie Schumacher Jim and Jill Speirs *Shelley Stingley Stephen & Catherine Thurman Rose Marie Tornow Karyn Veenis Nan Venhuizen Darwin Wolf
Sisseton
Sisseton Area Arts Council Rosemarie Hanssen Terry and Sandi Jaspers Cindy Marohl Estelle Reierson Pearson
John and Jane Rasmussen *Representative Tamara St. John
Spearfish
The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center Oliver Burgoyne Elizabeth Freer & Michael Headley *Rod & Sandy Garnett Lonnie and Leesa Haugland Edith Lien Paula Manley and Jim Knutson Kent and Zindie Meyers Tim Peterson Ellen & Richard Plocek Mary Ann Sheldon Gary and Nan Steinley
Spencer
Lori Long
Springfield
Cheryl Peterson Halsey
Sturgis
Sturgis Area Arts Council Anne Bodman and Andrew Hollander Richard and Ginger Carstensen DeVee and Kevin Dietz Bill Feterl Barry Furze Dale Lamphere and Jane Murphy
Vermillion
Dalesburg Heritage National Music Museum South Dakota Shakespeare Festival Vermillion Area Arts Council Vermillion Downtown Cultural Association Ariadne Albright John Banasiak Don and Janet Beeman Carol Cook Geu Chaya & Ryan Bland Susan Gray Bruce & Carol Kelley Michele Mechling Phyllis Packard Dr. Susanne Skyrm Norma and Jerry Wilson
ArtsSouthDakota.org • Fall 2023 Member Edition • 23
Supporters Wall
Wounded Knee Museum Rick and Patt Hustead
Watertown
Northern Prairie Arts Redlin Art Center Doris Symens Armstrong Mr. Stanley N. Jacobson Ramona Voegele Ralph Wamsher
Webster
Darlene Dulitz Connie Gisi
Wessington Springs
Springs Area Council of the Arts
Winner
Tami Comp
Yankton
Yankton Area Arts
ArtsSouthDakota.org
Marsha Bertsch Bill J. and Jane Bobzin Paul Harens Bernie Hunhoff Mary Hunhoff Marilyn Kratz Larry and Diane Ness James and Marilyn Nyberg Marcia and Marvin Olnes Roger and Mary Jo Renner Lea Ann Schramm Norman and Kathleen West
Out of State or Unknown Community Donors Karsh Hagan Seven Council Fires Native Art Diane Barnhart Annie Bechtold Greg Boris and Joan Reddy Ray Brooks J. Carol Carlsen Judith Cronin Zachariah Fournier
june 7 & 8, 2024
Judy Gates Mark Green KE Grosz Alana Hastings Brian Jones Tom Jones *Alan and Kari LaFave Mary E. Manthei Cristina Mathis Joseph and Norma McFadden Janet Meyer David Nixon Mr. Edward D. Pullen Mark Smither Craig Volk Candy Welch
In-Kind Donors Brian Hildebrant CPA Fresh Produce Media One South Dakota Magazine *Denotes an Arts South Dakota Board Member Arts South Dakota is in part supported through the generous grant support of the South Dakota Arts Council and the Bush Foundation.
Sponsors Bank West CorTrust Bank CO-OP Architecture Delta Dental of South Dakota First PREMIER Bank
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Washington Pavilion | Sioux Falls, SD 2024
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ONE L AST LOOK
Ghosts … and they seemed to have it easier than we do by J. Desy Schoenewies, part of the South Dakota Governor’s 10th Biennial Art Exhibition.
Arts South Dakota PO Box 2496, Sioux Falls, SD 57101-2496 (605) 252-5979 | ArtsSouthDakota.org Email: info@ArtsSouthDakota.org Arts South Dakota, a nonpartisan and nonprofit service organization, advances the arts for South Dakotans and our visitors by connecting, advocating and educating. Your donation to Arts South Dakota will enable us to continue our work to strengthen the arts in our state. Please join Arts South Dakota today. Give securely online at ArtsSouthDakota.org The Storyteller: A Portrait of Carl Grupp, by Anna Youngers, part of the South Dakota Governor’s 10th Biennial Art Exhibition.