WE THE MANY
PANDEMICS SEPARATE people. That’s a sad truth of history. But in the small city of Sisseton, the arts community found ways to bring people together.
When COVID-19 arrived in 2020, the Sisseton arts community
Still, thanks to online meetings the organizers slowly gained focus on what they wanted to accomplish. Everyone agreed that they wanted to know their neighbors better — both Native American and non-Native. They began by conducting 30 in-depth interviews with Sisseton area citizens of all ages. The interviews were then made available to artists in the community with the challenge that they were to create art from them.
STORIES OF HOW ONE SMALL SOUTH DAKOTA CITY CAME TOGETHER THROUGH COLLABORATIVE ART TO REBOUND FROM THE ISOLATION OF THE PANDEMIC.
The First Annual Sisseton Summer Arts Festival
was looking forward to a new project. Sisseton had just been chosen for a pilot program titled “We the Many,” created by Arts Midwest and the Mellon Foundation to explore what it means to be Midwestern.
Sisseton leaders began by choosing a visiting artist in residence. Their choice was Alex Barreto Hathaway, a puppeteer and visual storyteller from Minneapolis. The endeavor was almost immediately sidetracked by the virus.
“It turned out to be a remarkable thing,” says Jane Rasmussen, director of the Sisseton Arts Council. “There was a period of creating and learning. Local artists offered Zoom classes. Families in Agency Village gathered together along a dining room table to take an art class, and a girl participated from her bedroom in Veblen. We put together artist material kits and drove them around to people so they would have the supplies they needed.”
In June of 2021 the artists and Barreto Hathaway finally were able to meet in person after organizing an outdoor celebration as a culmination of their work. It included music, hands-on art projects, a puppet show and an art exhibit at Nicollet Tower.
The arts community is stronger in Sisseton today than when the pandemic began — and when the arts are stronger, the entire community grows stronger.
The public is invited to see art created by members of the New Old Artist Collective at the first annual Sisseton Summer Arts Festival, which will coincide with Celebrate Sisseton Days July 7-9. Along with art vendors from the Collective, the festival will feature live music and art demonstrations.
THE NEW OLD ARTIST COLLECTIVE
AS THE PANDEMIC risks eased in Sisseton, citizens began to wonder what more could be done with the arts community.
The Sisseton Arts Council received a COVID -related grant called Residencies for Recovery through the South Dakota Arts Council to take the next step. Members called California-based artist Markus Tracy, who was well-known to the Sisseton arts community for helping to install sculptures in the past. Tracy met with local artists, including Nicholas Blaske who also serves as executive director of the Sisseton Area Chamber of Commerce.
FROM ARTS SOUTH DAKOTA AND THE SOUTH DAKOTA ARTS COUNCIL Minneapolis artists Alex Barreto Hathaway and Madeline Achen and local artist Sandra Pratt (right) at the opening of the art exhibit at the Nicollet Tower.“We realized there were artists in this area who didn’t have a voice, so we started making plans for an artist collective,” said Blaske. The New Old Artist Collective was born in the summer of 2022, with about 40 artists on the roster. “The name comes from the idea of using traditional art techniques, such as beadworking and quiltmaking and to repurpose that technique into a new form,”
he said.
Tracy conferred with his fellow artists and together they decided to debut the collective with a pop-up show in downtown Sisseton. “Tracy has been coming to Sisseton for years and wants to try new things here because he knows we are willing to try and he’s seen things work in bigger communities,” Blaske said.
The pop-up was exactly what the collective needed — support and excitement from the community. “For some people it was the first time they saw their art on the wall. It was something the community could be proud of, to have that many talented people and we all enjoyed it together.”
Ninety artists are now on the roster. Tracy will return to Sisseton this summer to continue the collaborations.
