JULY/AUGUST 2026 • ARTS JOURNAL
Our annual celebration of the arts, published collaboratively with the South Dakota Arts Council and Arts South Dakota.
24 Imagining This Land in 1776
66 Forged in Fire
44 Creating Connections
80 Rapid City’s Man of Many Talents
48 Brushing Up the Business
90 Čhatkú: What’s Old is New
Looking back through the eyes of our artists Story by Bernie Hunhoff
Charlie Brave Heart wants her art to teach and unite Story by John Andrews
There’s something for everyone at Custer’s Art Expressions Story by Bernie Hunhoff
54 Michael Baum’s Badlands An artistic advocate for our wild spaces Story by Bernie Hunhoff
60 Elk Point’s Farm Canvas
Flowers and fellowship both blossom at Fleurish Story by Katie Hunhoff
Tragedy reinvigorated Deborah Mitchell’s art Story by John Andrews
James Van Nuys follows his own artistic path Story by Paul Higbee
A new home for Red Cloud’s priceless art Story by Bernie Hunhoff
96 The Art of Seeing
Photographer Cheryl Halsey searches for truth Story by Katie Hunhoff
116 A Second Look
Paul Horsted shows South Dakota yesterday and today Story by John Andrews
128 Morning Art, by the Plate
Hjem A.M. delights our eyes and taste buds Story by Bernie Hunhoff
134 Ode to the Barn
Today’s artists embrace these farm icons Story by Bernie Hunhoff
Lakota hoop dancers performed at the South Dakota Arts Conference in April at Rapid City. July/August 2026 • 5
JULY/AUGUST 2026 • DEPARTMENTS 6 Publisher’s Letter
103 Traveler
11 Mailbox
140 Winning with the Arts
17 Dakotiana
142 Poetry
22 Connecting South Dakotans
144 Too Long in the Sun
Our age of human creativity
Summer arts are back
Jimmy Buffett’s roommate
OUR COVER: George Catlin’s early 19th century paintings, including White Wolves on the Upper Missouri, offer a view of South Dakota 250 years ago. (Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum)
From the South Dakota Arts Council
Preserving pipes in Lead
South Dakota in verse
From Arts South Dakota
A rancher’s retort to Badger Clark
73 Writers & Artists
A Lakota take on Shakespeare
Places in this issue •
Lemmon (17)
Standing Rock (12)
• Grand River (35)
• Sisseton (118)
•
Aberdeen (136) Milbank (117) •
• Spearfish (54) Lead (21) •• Deadwood (20, 103)
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Fort Pierre (39)
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Rapid City (66, 74, 80)
Brookings (107, 115) •
• Custer (48, 116, 128) • Hot Springs (75) Illustration by Mike Reagan
• Pine Ridge (44, 90)
• Platte (36) • Geddes (111) Springfield (96) •
Sioux Falls • (18, 73, 78)
• Yankton (78) • n (74)
Vermillio
• Elk Point (60)
July/August 2026 • 3
FROM THE PUBLISHER
REAL ARTISTS OF S.D.
Y
ou hold in your hands the thickest issue of South Dakota Magazine ever printed in our 41-year history. It flowed through a printing press much like the one that was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany in 1440. Just before we went to press (yes, we still call it that), some of our staff attended the biennial South Dakota Arts Conference in Rapid City. There on the second floor of the historic Alex Johnson Hotel we learned about artificial intelligence’s impact on creativity from Young Ae Kim, a University of South Dakota professor who researches the effects of technology on media and creativity. Change is coming faster than ever, she said. We had decades to adapt to other technologies. Four hundred years after the printing press, the industrial age brought railroads and threshing machines. We were accustomed to radio and TV well before Netscape came along, and then the Blackberry and smartphone. Now, AI is offering to not only draw and write for us, but to imagine and even decide. Change is accelerating faster than we can keep up, which is scary. Kim suggested, in a room mostly filled with young creative minds, that everyone ask themselves this question: In
a world where AI can generate everything, what is the one thing you can bring to your work? I think you hold one example in your hands. This happens to be our annual arts issue. For several years now, we’ve devoted our July/August journalistic energies to showing and celebrating the people who inspire and educate us with their talents. Read their stories and see their works; I believe you’ll see that AI may someday mimic their works and ideas convincingly, but it’s more likely to invent a better printing press than a poem. Our arts inspire us because the singer knows how the hot wind burns your cheeks in the Badlands. The poet winces because his great-aunt was killed by a bull in that barn. The sculptor shook the gnarled, arthritic fingers of the man whose face he’s now shaping in clay. Nothing is more real (and thus less artificial) than the artists of South Dakota. We thank the South Dakota Arts Council and Arts South Dakota for partnering with us in this annual celebration of our creative men and women. Their gifts have never been more important.
— Katie Hunhoff Publisher
6 • South Dakota Magazine
CONNECTING SOUTH DAKOTANS
A
Jim Speirs, a jazz musician in his offhours, advocates for all artists as the leader of Arts South Dakota.
T ARTS SOUTH DAKOTA, we celebrate a creative South Dakota every single day. We see it in classrooms, galleries, theaters, coffee shops, libraries, parks and community centers all across our state. We see it in the work of painters, musicians, dancers, writers, culture bearers, actors, filmmakers and makers of every kind. That’s why we are especially excited to share this special arts issue of South Dakota Magazine with you. This issue brings together the longtime spirit of the annual Arts Journal with the larger reach and storytelling of South Dakota Magazine. It also represents a wonderful partnership between Arts South Dakota, South Dakota Magazine and the South Dakota Arts Council. Together, we share a commitment to celebrating artists, supporting communities and highlighting the creativity that makes South Dakota such a special place to live and work. I may not have any official data to back this up, but I often say South Dakota has to be the most creative state in the nation. Everywhere I go, I’m continually amazed and energized by the art happening in every corner of our state. In small towns and larger cities alike, people are creating meaningful work, building community, preserving traditions and finding new ways to tell stories through the arts. The arts are deeply connected to who we are. One of my favorite parts of this work is discovering new artists and arts experiences. In our state you can experience Native arts and multi-cultural traditions, world-class musicians in rural communities, incredible public art in small downtowns, innovative theater productions and passionate local arts leaders working hard to make their communities stronger and more vibrant. We hope you enjoy this celebration of a creative South Dakota. Of course, no single issue could ever come close to covering all of the great arts stories happening across our state. Instead, we hope these pages inspire you to look around your own community, support local artists, attend performances and exhibitions and celebrate the creativity that surrounds us every day. Thanks for joining us in celebrating the arts in South Dakota. Jim Speirs Executive Director Arts South Dakota
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Adventure and festivities in South Dakota
Brulé on the Square The dazzling lights, colorful dancers and sweeping music of Brulé will command the Sue Lundberg Memorial Stage at Outlaw Square in Deadwood on July 20. The free concert kicks off Deadwood’s Days of ’76 and is part of the historic mountain town’s 150th celebration. Chad Coppess
WINNING WITH THE ARTS
I
DON’T KNOW WHY I use sports sayings. I don’t follow sports, and I dislike clichés. But I frequently find my staff working overtime in a double header under red-zone pressure. They swing for the fences, and I assure you these players are in the zone. Permit me just a few more metaphors. This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our South Dakota Arts Council, and I must say that our staff is a dream team. They’ve
embraced all sorts of challenges and change with unflagging determination and dedication. Here are some South Dakota Arts Council key plays from the past year: • Grants Manager Kate Vandel continued to develop a new platform to unify all grant opportunities under one system, simplify the applicant experience, and connect directly with the state financial system to improve grantee access to award and payment information. • Communications & Community Relations Coordinator Sarah Carlson took the lead in bringing a years-long effort to redesign SDAC’s website to fruition, working with developers to simplify and amplify the state arts agency’s public messaging based on her own design, communications and organizational skills along with industry research.
Sarah Carlson
• Grants Specialist Holly Briggs took hardly any time acclimating to the job in 2026, quickly launching and implementing a special grant opportunity supporting America’s 250th anniversary celebrations through the arts with a one-time application that ushered in more than 30 proposals in as many days. Holly guided the process efficiently throughout.
Patrick Baker leads the South Dakota Arts Council’s mission of strengthening communities by advancing the arts.
• We racked up more wins in our Poetry Out Loud and Creative Aging programs — even in the wake of coaching turnover. And those are just the highlights from State Fiscal Year 2026. Your South Dakota Arts Council now embarks on another year of grant-making and assisting South Dakota’s creative community. I’m betting on another winning season. Patrick Baker Executive Director South Dakota Arts Council
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