Art Show

Sculpture in the Hills

IMG_0121If you will be traveling in western South Dakota at the end of June there is one event which you might enjoy.

This will be the 5th year that the Hill City Arts Council has hosted a small but select sculpture show and sale in downtown historic Hill City.  Again this year I am pleased to be one of the artists included in the show.IMG_0119

Located between two of the world’s largest and most famous sculptures, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, Hill City is the logical spot for the Sculpture in the Hills Art Show & Sale. In fact, Hill City’s focus on sculpture has built on the renown of Main Street’s galleries, and has led to its growing reputation as the “new Santa Fe,” and a stop on the “cultural highway” between southern art destinations and Jackson Hole.The show is juried, which means that quality for buyers is guaranteed; the bar that has been set in years past has been reflected in the comments of visitors. One New Yorker exclaimed, “Hey, this is a real art show!” Yes, it is. It also includes artwork in a variety of price ranges, so visitors are able to stop by for a small gift or a new monument for their own personal skyscraper.Sculpture in the Hills also is intimate, with a maximum of 25 artists per year, showing together under one tent just off Main Street—between the famous Alpine Inn and Granite Sports. The small size keeps the show manageable, preventing that “brain overload” that occurs with larger venues. It also makes for great fun and camaraderie for the artists, who feel welcomed and well cared-for. The collaboration that is created between these happy artists and the Arts Council team results in a smooth-running, high-end program suitable for all ages—and all pocketbooks.Hill City also is a cultural destination in itself, with fine art galleries and museums,and public art pieces gracing the city. It is also home to: regionally-known restaurants and wineries; the area’s only foundry, Black Hills Bronze; and an 1880 Train giving passenger rides into the past. And speaking of the past, Hill City features one of the world’s most complete skeletons of a T-rex dinosaur, “STAN,” which was excavated and prepared at the world’s largest private fossil company, Black Hills Institute of Geological Research.