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Rapid City Arts Council Five decades after incorporating as one of South Dakota’s first community arts organizations, the Rapid City Arts Council is still finding collaborative ways to celebrate creativity in the Black Hills region. An excellent example are two of the RCAC’s current shows, the Artists of the Black Hills 13th Annual Exhibition and the 23rd Annual Northern Plains Watercolor Society show, both on display now at the Dahl Arts Center in downtown Rapid City. Showcasing the work of over 50 regional artists, the two exhibitions include watercolor and diverse media painting, sculpture, pastels, photography, printmaking, jewelry, collage and assemblage. While these shows are annual events, each year brings new artistic visions to the Dahl—one of the main purposes for which the arts center was created. The arts council works to bring the arts and people together to inspire creativity and innovation and to encourage diversity through dynamic partnerships—among those partnerships is an historic link to Rapid City municipal government. That public-private partnership helped to create the Dahl Arts Center, owned by the city and managed by the Rapid City Arts Council.
The Dahl Arts Center was the brainchild of Art Dahl, (shown above with Mrs. Dahl) after he commissioned Bernard P. Thomas to design and paint a mural depicting America’s economic growth. Securing a building to house the work was necessary and the Dahl Arts Center became the answer. The Rapid City Arts Council board of directors agreed to assume the center’s development and management at Dahl’s request.
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celebrates
a half century of creativity
“Icarus Falling Now,” by Sharon Grey, is part of the 23rd Annual Northern Plains Watercolor Society show on display at the Dahl through October 20, 2018.
The Dahl grew from a place to house a 200-foot mural depicting America’s economic growth into a home for a theater and a dedicated art gallery. By 2000, more space was needed for the popular cultural center and fundraising was successful, resulting in a more flexible event venue. The expanded Dahl Arts Center, opened in 2008, now covers the 7th Street block from Kansas City to Quincy Streets and includes three galleries, cyclorama mural, an event and performance center, visual arts classrooms, an emerging artists’ performance gallery and art collection storage rooms. While the Dahl provides the Rapid City Arts Council with space for staff and a public face through art exhibits, the organization fulfills its creative mission through innovative programming. In addition to visual arts, that programming includes performing arts and arts education programs, as well as support for artists and arts organizations in the community. The diversity of art expression and demographics promoted by the Rapid City Arts Council has been impressive throughout the “Reed Dancer,” by Jim Green, on display through half century of the group’s existence. October 27, 2018 in the Artists of the Black Hills 13th Annual Exhibition at the Dahl.
www.ArtsCouncil.sd.gov
