Lind named 2023 Stuart Artist-in-Residence

The South Dakota State University School of Design will host artist Tanner Lind during the Stuart Artist-in-Residence program this September.
 
Lind’s residency will take place Sept. 5-29, when he will interact with students, faculty, staff and the community. His artist lecture is Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. in Founders Recital Hall at the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. 
 
He will also have an open studio event on Sept. 28 from 4-6 p.m. in Grove Hall’s Ritz Gallery. Artist remarks will take place at 4:30 p.m.
 
Lind is an artist based in Portland, Oregon. His abstract paintings explore an evolving language of marks, color, images and thoughts that arise from a dynamic engagement with materials. His paintings each exhibit an individual evolution as much as a communal progress and become remnants of an infinitely shifting discovery of change. 
 
“Through my paintings, I aim to evoke feelings and emotions that we intuitively feel and work through abstraction in an attempt to communicate my belief that our consciousness is more indefinable than definable,” Lind explained. “I do not approach making a painting following a blueprint or with a culminating image in my mind. Instead, I approach my painting process as a kind of riffing, following my curiosities and experimenting within a set of parameters.”
 

Lind has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo; the Northwest Arts Center in Minot, North Dakota; the Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland, Oregon; and at Nationale, Melanie Flood Projects, Carnation Contemporary and the Center for Contemporary Art and Culture in Portland. 
 
He has participated in residencies through the North Dakota Museum of Art and the Sou’wester residency program. Lind received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from North Dakota State University and his Master of Fine Arts in visual studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. 
 
The Stuart Artist-in-Residence program is funded through a donation from Joe and Signe Stuart, who worked and taught in Brookings for several decades. 
 
Signe Stuart was a professor of art at SDSU from 1972-1994, and Joe Stuart (1932-2016) served as director and curator at the South Dakota Art Museum from 1971-1993. Joe Stuart appreciated art in all forms but was a champion of modern and contemporary art and worked to create opportunities for regional artists throughout his career. His work at the museum made a foundational impact on the body of the institution, and his legacy lives on through his sensitive curation of acquisitions for the museum.
 
“Both Signe and Joe recognized how valuable a residency program would be to our rural community,” Diana Behl, associate professor in the School of Design, said. “Through a financial donation, they initiated the development of an artist-in-residence program on the South Dakota State University campus to enrich our community and create opportunities for artists.”
 
The process for selecting an artist is multi-layered. Artists submit a project proposal, portfolio of 10 work samples and a resume. A committee in the School of Design reviews the applications and professional history of the artists before selecting finalists for interviews. 
 
Throughout the residency, the artist has several opportunities to interact with students and the public by visiting classes and having an open door while working in the studio. 
 
“Faculty invite the artist to class critiques and discussion, enabling students to receive candid feedback on their work,” Behl explained. “Open studio hours are a critical component to the unique educational aspect of this residency, providing an opportunity for students and our community to learn about the artist, their practice and how their project evolves over the course of the month. This mutual exchange is an important element of the Stuarts’ vision for establishing a residency on a campus situated within a rural environment.”
 
Lind said he is eager for his visit to SDSU. “I am looking forward to this opportunity to share my work and process with the community at SDSU and am excited to learn about the work that is being made by students. ... I am eager to engage in conversations, critiques and curiosities of students and art community in Brookings.”
 
Learn more about Lind’s open studio schedule on the Ritz Gallery webpage.
 
Find more of Lind’s work on his website.