The title of Harvey Dunn’s quintessential painting, "The Prairie is My Garden," serves as a springboard for this exhibition which considers the human connection to the land that we now know as South Dakota. Completed in 1950, the painting (displayed at right) depicts a family amidst a blooming prairie, capturing a time before settlers turned fields of prairie grasses and wildflowers into cropland. One of Dunn’s boyhood friends donated the painting to South Dakota State University, where countless students encountered the piece in the university student union before its transfer to the South Dakota Art Museum collection in 1970.
Virtually since its completion, the painting has forged a unique bond with its viewers, becoming deeply significant to many South Dakotans. Museum visitors regularly share points of personal connection to the piece, including familial stories sparked by its subject matter and memories of reproductions hanging in homes. Sales of such reproductions played a significant role in funding the creation of the Museum and provided regular access to Dunn’s work in people’s daily lives.
Explore further selections of Dunn’s prairie paintings as well as three thematic groupings of works by South Dakota-based creatives who are inspired by the region’s natural environment. A Landscapes section includes objects highlighting the region’s diverse geography, spanning from the eastern plains to the western hills of South Dakota. Capturing a Moment in the Garden takes these landscapes and magnifies them, using still lifes of specific plants and flowers present in the region. Taking this idea further, Materiality displays artworks which utilize resources from the land itself, exploring the extent to which artists can shape these materials from their original context to both amplify and reimagine their meanings.
As you engage with "The Prairie is My Garden," we invite you to consider your own connections to the landscapes around you and how they are reflected in the exhibited artworks.
What connections can you find between Harvey Dunn’s works and the others on display?
How might you create an artwork depicting your own environment?
What sights, sounds, and smells remind you of a favorite landscape?
Comments
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Credits
Support for this exhibition was provided by Museum Members at the Catalyst, Trailblazer, and Champion Levels:
Anonymous, Lynn and Diane Anderson, Susan and Roger Assmus, Glynn and Keith Bartels, Jacqueline M. Blackford, Eric and Ruth Brown, Marcia and David Chicoine, Prudence DeBates, Marilyn and Max DeLong, Barbara and Van Fishback, Tom and Mary Beth Fishback, Sue and Geoffrey Grant, Ruth Harper and Larry Rogers, Joan and Alan Hegerfeld-Baker, Winifred Heller, Mildred K. Hugghins, Sandi and Terry Jaspers, Craig and Dee Johnson, Daniel and Michele Kemp, Dale Larson, Rita and Bill Larson, Venance and Deborah Lengkeek, Bonnie Lievan, Jeanne and Tom Manzer, Alisha Marquardt, Reyna Martin, Patricia and David Meyer, Paul and Rachel Meyer, Dorothy and Jim Morgan, L. Bruce Nelson, Diane and Steve Rickerl, Kevin and Debbie Roberts, Pamela Swedlund, Ann McKay Thompson, Larry and Gail Tidemann, Sharon and Gary Van Riper, Pamela and Merritt Warren, Sue and Curt Wischmeier
As a unit of South Dakota State University, South Dakota Art Museum receives significant operational support from the university. Additional support is provided by the South Dakota Arts Council (with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts) and museum members and donors.
