Visions of Nature
(August 15 - October 8, 2009)

A new art exhibit at the Museum highlighted the work of C.M. Cernetisch of Gregory County, South Dakota. Entitled “Visions of Nature” the show was comprised of pastel drawings, a medium the artist has worked in for the past 25 years.

Cernetisch began drawing at an early age, but didn’t take her art seriously until after she had started her family. It was then that she was introduced to the medium of pastel. Drawing or “painting” with chalk pastels involves layering the chalky pigment and binder stick directly onto a rough or sometimes soft (velour) paper. The layers of color are not mixed like paint, but are layered on top of each other and then the viewer’s eye blends them visually. Over the years, Cernetisch has been fortunate enough to study with some of our country’s finest pastelists such as Doug Dawson, Larry Blovits, and Donna Aldridge. In recent years, she has also begun teaching classes of her own which she finds very gratifying.

“I find nothing more intriguing than the things I see everyday—a beautiful tree, a fine horse, or golden light spilling across the hills,” says the artist. “ It’s these things that I hope to make my viewer stop and see, the things that are too often passed by in our haste and fast-paced lifestyles. I want my paintings to be a retreat for you, as they were for me to create.”

The artist also loves to take her easel outdoors and paint from life, which allows the full experience of a place to sink in. An avid photographer, she takes numerous photos of subjects to work with in her studio, which is a focal point of the new home she is in the process of building.

Cernetisch’s work has won several awards in local, regional, and national shows. Her work hangs in collections around the United States, both in corporate and private collections.

For information on past exhibits in the Dacotah Gallery, please click here.