Arts Alive | July/August 2022 | South Dakota Magazine

Music to Their Ears South Dakota honors the artistry, songs and history of the indigenous flute

Mick Harrison: Quick Eye and Quicker Gate

FROM ARTS SOUTH DAKOTA AND THE SOUTH DAKOTA ARTS COUNCIL

PUBLIC ART Continuing an ancient tradition

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avemen drew animal art on dirt walls 45,000 years ago. Romans carved grand sculptures. Medieval artists painted frescoes. South Dakota continues the ancient tradition of public art with a rotating collection of works that now numbers 110 pieces.

However, South Dakota’s public art includes works you’ll find nowhere else in the world, and the latest additions are perfect examples. Mick Harrison’s oil titled Quick Eye and Quicker Gate depicts three modern-day cowboys sorting cattle in a Black Hills corral.

Harrison, a rural Belle Fourche artist, lauds South Dakota’s Art for State Buildings program, which was launched

by U.S. Senator Mike Rounds when he was governor in 2007. Rounds envisioned a state art collection that would celebrate the state’s artists, promote the beauty of South Dakota and enliven

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the sometimes-bland hallways and foyers of government buildings.

State lawmakers and governors have routinely budgeted $20,000 or more since then through the South Dakota Arts Council, except for a hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, when leaders were uncertain about state revenues.

Patrick Baker, executive director of the South Dakota Arts Council, says the program has been re-started with a $24,610 budget. “We had an incredible outpouring of creativity and an overwhelming response,” he says. Sixty-two artists submitted works for consideration.

Thirteen were selected. They’ll be on exhibit in Pierre at the Dolly-Reed Plaza (711 E. Wells Ave.), headquarters for the Arts Council and the State Department of Tourism, until permanent locations are arranged.

South Dakota has a state bird, insect, sport, dessert, soil and now, an indigenous musical instrument. House Bill 1196, passed during the 2022 legislative session, formally recognizes the traditional flute as the official indigenous musical instrument of South Dakota.

Rep. Tamara St. John, who represents District 1 (Brown, Day, Marshall and Roberts counties) and works as an archivist for the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, sponsored the bill, which found widespread support in both the state Senate and the House. “As someone who works with preservation and wanting to retain traditional knowledge, this was really important,” St. John says. “I could see the importance in it.”

Momentum for the bill gained steam at an annual reception for legislators organized by Secretary David Flute and the Department of Tribal Relations. Kevin Locke, a hoop dancer and flute player from Wakpala on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, was invited to perform.

Afterwards, he and Flute talked about the possibility of recognizing the instrument. “It was a suggestion on my part,” Locke says. “I told them that the only state that officially recognizes anything indigenous is the state of Hawaii, which recognizes the ukulele as a state instrument. The ukulele is European but has been indigenized by the Polynesian people. The indigenous flute, if adopted, would be the only authentic, pre-European, musical aesthetic ever adopted by a state government.”

Secretary Flute, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and a direct descendant of a man known as Flute Player, says he’s appreciative of both the legislature and the governor for supporting the measure. “Our state has some of the best indigenous flute players in all of America and highlighting the instrument they use to bring music to all people is an honor to them as artists and to all South Dakotans,” Flute says.

WHY THE ARTS? • Every $1 invested in the arts returns $21 to the South Dakota economy.

• South Dakota has 1,352 arts-related businesses and they employ 6,489 people.

THE 8TH INNOSKATE Coming in July to Pine Ridge and Sioux Falls

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ine Ridge and Sioux Falls will be at the forefront of the skateboarding world in July, thanks to the Smithsonian Institution and a Who’s Who of South Dakota arts groups.

A decade ago, The Smithsonian created Innoskate, a program that explores skate culture’s creative spirit. Seven Innoskate festivals have been organized, the latest in England; the eighth is a two-city tour of South Dakota.

Levitt at the Falls, the summer music venue in downtown Sioux Falls, is at the center of the collaboration. “This may surprise some people, but skateboarding is all about music,” says Nancy Halverson, Levitt’s executive director.

“If you watched the Olympics last summer, you might remember members of the press wondering on television why the skateboarders were on their cell phones,” she says. “It is because they choreograph their runs to music, very much the way ice skaters might choreograph their routine

except with skateboarding we don’t get to hear their music.”

The music will be heard at Pine Ridge and Sioux Falls. The Smithsonian’s Jazz Masterworks Orchestra will perform with professional skaters and Olympians, as well as with local jazz musicians. Innoskate will also include skate demonstrations, panel discussions, skating clinics and numerous other activities designed to spark the imaginations of youth and entertain people of all ages.

Innoskate is set for July 5 at Toby Eagle Bull Skatepark in Pine Ridge, where skateboarding has become a popular activity in the reservation’s efforts to steer youth away from drugs, alcohol and gang activity.

In Sioux Falls, the event will be headquartered at the Levitt amphitheater July 7-9, with related events in the downtown district, including a skateboard art show at Rehfeld’s Gallery and a vendor skater village.

• The Artists in the Schools & Communities program brought artists to 78 sites across South Dakota in 2019 and provided 213 total weeks of education residency; half of those residencies served veterans, at-risk youth and other underserved individuals.

Arts are the soul of South Dakota.

Visit ArtsSouthDakota.org to learn more and become a member with a donation.

Arts South Dakota, a non-partisan and non-profit service organization, advances the arts for South Dakotans and our visitors by connecting, advocating, and educating.

The South Dakota Arts Council is a state agency serving South Dakotans and their communities through the arts.

Arts Alive is presented in partnership with South Dakota Magazine.

ArtsSouthDakota.org/calendar — Great creative experiences can be found everywhere in South Dakota! Visit us online to see a more complete list of events happening around the state.

PO Box 2496 Sioux Falls, SD 57101 605-252-5979 info@ArtsSouthDakota.org July/August 2022 • 69 www.ArtsSouthDakota.org