The Prairie is My Garden
The title of Harvey Dunn鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 work in people鈥檚 daily lives.
Explore further selections of Dunn鈥檚 prairie paintings as well as three thematic groupings of works by South Dakota-based creatives who are inspired by the region鈥檚 natural environment. A Landscapes section includes objects highlighting the region鈥檚 varied 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鈥檚 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?
