Patrick Harris
Pilot
oil on canvas, 2007

Marian Henjum
Purple Jumpsuit
watercolor & liquid gold leaf, 2008

This piece is an exploration in design and composition using the figure as the subject. The figure is from a sketch done in one of my life drawing groups.

Michael  Hill
Teapot
wood fired ceramic, 2008

My work is about taking a utilitarian object and making it special. I want the form to be alive and the surface to be rich and enticing. All of the tools I use in the studio leave a statement on the pottery, especially the kiln. I currently use four different kilns, each with its own unique ability to leave an impression on my work. The atmospheres and temperatures push their way through the kiln, around and against my pots, leaving behind a record of the choices I make.

Travis Hinton
Untitled
salt fired stoneware, 2008

I continue to use the bird image in my work as a metaphor of time. These simple creatures that survive harsh situations and travel long distances to return home. Fragile and delicate they continue to intrigue and influence my work. This piece is part of large group of work I am currently developing. It combines structures and architecture with the bird image.

Don Hooper
Outdoor Campus
oil on canvas, 2007

My career as a banker left little time for me to pursue artistic endeavors. Occasionally, I would go wandering through the prairies of Eastern South Dakota and Western Minnesota with my camera looking for something special in the splendor of these Northern Plains Landscapes.

Upon retirement in 1999, I felt an opportunity had arrived to seek further the beauty of the prairie. And so my journey began in a new direction. I didn’t realize at that time that it would include painting. However, as things generally go, one step led to the next and pretty soon I had to see if I could paint what my visual senses were saying to me.

My father was a professional photographer spanning several decades and on occasion we would do a “camera safari,” mostly along the East Coast where he lived. He instilled some basics about composition and the affects of lighting, where to seek out the unusual, and when to shoot. The same in many respects exists with painting and clearly one of the most pervasive periods in the world of art was the Impressionist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In my opinion what made this period of impressionism so unique was the “plein air” painting. One must paint what one sees, with little reference to a print or photograph: to capture the moment. It is a bit like photography; except for all the preliminary preparation, and of course you must interpret what you see, what you like, and what to omit. 

This painting is a “plein air” composition from the Sertoma Outdoor Campus, in early June of 2007. It was a lovely morning, with geese basking in the sun, a few family expeditions going on and a warm morning with clouds developing in the west. I continue to be moved by the serene beauty of morning light. If you haven’t walked the paths of the Outdoor Campus, I encourage you to do so with your family, g-kids or friends. 

Jane Nutter Johnson
Mingo
photography, 2007

I started shooting images for my greeting card company when our photographers we work with did not have the perfect image for a greeting. One of my first attempts at photography was on my deck. We desperately needed baby cards. I bought blocks at Lewis and spelled BABY on the deck rail. The greeting is “A Simple Word for a Life Changing Event, Congratulations!” It is one of our best sellers.

Josh Johnson
B.Y.O.B.
bronze, steel, wood, aluminum bottle opener, found objects, 2006

B.Y.O.B. is from a body of work where I was thoroughly enjoying how I could combine cast bronze with fabricated steel and found objects. The sculpture was initially inspired by a piggy bank, but became more about taking and consuming rather than collecting and saving. The exterior and interior of the piece offer symbols that contribute to a narrative of over-indulgent behavior and excess mixed with humor and sarcasm.

Karen Kinder
Spring Creek
oil on canvas, 2006

I went driving in the early spring, to get out of the house and search for interesting landscapes.  What I found was a small creek swelled by snowmelt. The brown reeds of fall were still there as the surrounding grass started to green up.  The colors said spring and the air said spring.  I wanted to believe it. 

Harry Klessen
Geometrics and Trees
acrylics, 2008

“Art is a composition of shapes and forms how they relate to each other, with a choice between light and dark. It is a process of having a positive space or removing it to have a negative space to create flow and balance.”

The piece I have donated is a contrast between light and dark. I like the contrast again between the geometric window forms and the free flowing trees.

Brad Kringen
Rouleau
mixed media, 2008

This is the 3rd piece of my new series, the extent of which I have yet to come to a creative boundary. I’m basically having fun combining different materials to create each new Rouleau. It is important to me to come up with new ideas for paintings and my mixed media pieces, never wanting to stick to just one style of work as that would become tired and done already. Hopefully my pieces show the fun I have in creating them.

Richard Krueger
Cactus 27
digital composite photography, 2007

My artwork focuses on landscapes and industrial scenes influenced from my childhood experiences of industrial Milwaukee and family vacations to pristine northern Wisconsin lakes. Almost all of my images are constructed from multiple photos that pan for what my higher power sees and creates in the land, contrasted by industrial desecration of the land.

“CACTUS 27” was taken last year in Arizona. My trip was planed for early spring when the cactus blooms. I spent three weeks wandering in an environment that for a northern man had always been intrigued by. Or maybe it was all of the old black and white cowboy movies I watched in the 50’s that called to me.

Greg Latza
Badlands Highway
photographic print on canvas, 2004

This photograph is a time exposure of a scenic highway that traverses the Badlands of South Dakota. Taken from atop a tall formation, the exposure lasted about a minute, and was taken after the sun went down but with the sunset’s glow illuminating the fantastic landscape.

I love to document the great beauty of our state, whether it is photographing scenic views like this one or documenting our unique people for various trade magazines or our own stable of photographic books. While many people think that the Plains of South Dakota are empty, I find them teeming with life and brimming with people who have amazing stories to tell, and who are incredibly photogenic.

I’m very happy to contribute to Arts Night and the great mission for which it stands.

Jessica Lundgren
Random Art Object
found objects, 2007

In this piece I found an understanding of the meaning behind symbols and signs. This was one of the many artworks that I used the idea of ritualization as a vehicle for my ideas. Ritualization to me is an action that is orchestrated to designate or privilege what is being done in comparison to other usually more mundane activities. In any objects ritual aspect this privileged sacredness is the quality that creates a value-laden distinction; thus, it contrasts sacred acts with profane ones as being more powerful or important. Ordinary objects found with their own characters and individual tastes, textures, and identities are combined in a complex yet visually simple ways, via ritualization, to produce a sign or symbol. This is why I choose to use found objects in my works and more specifically in this work. The subtle dialog that I have taken in and experienced from the skilled and decisive use of various mediums has enriched my artistic vocabulary. What I have discovered in this piece is the ability to manifest pieces that can logically balance being beautiful and ugly in many ways.

Joey Lynch
Oh, Roscoe
mixed media, screen print, 2005

Social and personal history, graffiti art, and pop culture are my main influences. The students and workers in the Paris uprising of 1968, screen printed posters to communicate their struggle; once aware of art as action, communication and expression in this way it made a personal impact. Their ideals were communicated to the public via art, as they boldly wheat pasted entire buildings. Growing up working class, I became sensitive to class issues in response to social movements.

I also enjoy the fact that spontaneous interactions, or even mistakes, can directly affect a major personal or social history. Similar to the expression that a butterfly’s wing can cause a hurricane on the other end of the world, or how something not remembered can make a huge difference in each of our lives. Collaged elements and wheat pasted images add to the visual and conceptual layers of my work. Past imagery may surface under semi-transparent colors to reveal more history.

As history constantly changes under the control of new leaders, memories of the people may become distorted or forgotten. Perhaps a false history becomes more real than the truth as the facts may be buried underneath painful, fragmented layers. In the end it comes down to having a dialogue with my thoughts, theories, and emotions. Often the viewer and myself will have a much different interpretation about my work. This pattern of conflicting interpretations can parallel the recording of history.

Michelle Marino
Untitled
acrylic, 2008

First I examine the colors I am considering. These colors provoke an arresting chemical reaction between the art and myself. The collection of art I am working on is all about eye catching bold colors. As the art progresses, the colors harmonize by adding layers and texture. From there it is a little less concrete, I can’t over think it. The pieces I let evolve sometimes turn an unexpected direction. Those pieces are my most regarded.

Sam & Mark McGinnis
The Chickadee and the Dragonflies
mixed – acrylic on board, pine & bark, lichen, beads, 2007

“Chickadee and Dragonflies” is our expression of the natural world surrounding us here in the southern Black Hills… the textures, colors, flora and fauna. We created this piece together because we hoped it would be an enjoyable experience and an interesting project.

Chris Meyer
Huddle
red elm & ornamental sumac, 2003

Many conclusions are offered in the form of “Huddle;” a conjunction of similar beings, a pair or a couple huddling together for warmth or comfort, as well as sensual allusions. Although “huddle” is a non-objective sculpture it may still be seen as a representation of the idea of union or marriage and the combination of two related souls. Or not.