TuzigootJournal: South Dakota Flashback: Terry Redlin

Our tour of the C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls (to be reported soon) reminded me that we failed to report our SD visit to the Redlin Art Center in Watertown. Ever since Jeff and Valerie moved to SD about four years ago, they've been telling us we've got to go see the Redlin Art Center. So, we did on our trek from Pipestone, MN to Aberdeen. Mentally, I composed a report, but in the excitement of Aberdeen I forgot to transfer these thoughts to the blogosphere.

As a teenager, Terry Redlin lost a leg in a motorcycle accident. The state provided compensation in such instances and Redlin used his to attend art school in Minneapolis. He spent several years as a commercial artist, then moved back to Watertown and started full-time pursuit of his own art interests. His art is generally nostalgic rural and small-town scenes, often nature-oriented. Lots of rural scenes, often with birds streaking across them (he has won multiple competitions done by Ducks Unlimited for the art displayed on duck stamps), typically illuminated with light from various sources: sunrise, sunset, campfire, streetlight.

There's one particularly poignant series of paintings, all of one house in a small town and a series of events: a wedding, the birth of a baby son; son graduates, son joins the army; two military officers come to the house to inform the parents of the death of their son. Redlin's brother-in-law, with whom he was very close, died in Viet Nam and that experience was expressed in this series.

Here are some examples from a website where you can buy prints (no photos in the Art Center).

You may be familiar with Redlin's art. For several years he had the title of Most Popular American Artist, as determined by surveys conducted by U.S. Art magazine.

Some years ago, Redlin's son asked him what he did with his original canvasses. He said he eventually sold them. The son, Charles, said Why don't you keep them? We'll build an Art Center and display them there. This will be your gift to Watertown. So, it was done -- well-designed and built (Charles is an architect). There will not be a need to add more gallery space because Redlin recently retired from painting.

Besides the Redlin art, there's an auditorium in the Center that features artifacts pertaining to ice cream: scoops, milk shake machines, posters, magazine covers, ... . Fun looking at these collections. Redlin's father-in-law ran an ice cream factory in Watertown.

(I just googled ice cream museum and came up with Ford's Ice Cream Museum in Newton, Mississippi. Also, an ice cream museum in Le Mars, Iowa. And more. Add one to your bucket list.)

So, we're glad we finally did the Redlin Center. If you're ever driving through Watertown, SD on I-29, stop and take a look.