"Time and Place" by Rebecca Mulvaney

Artist’s Statement:

The artworks included in “Time and Place” reflect my response to the landscape of the Northern Plains. Our environment here can be either grave or glorious, and is often exceedingly beautiful. I work from photographs, taken as I travel across the region. You will find that specific times and places are noted on labels in this exhibit.

“Time and Place” includes several paintings and pastels of a particular storm on July 21, 2004. I’ve worked from a series of photographs taken by Paul Knudsen, from his summer home on the shore of Lake Kampeska, near Watertown, SD. I was interested in depicting the wonderful cloudscape of the Dakotas, and commissioned Knudsen for some storm photos. It ended up we were photographing the same storm. “Tidal Wave” is from photos I took a bit earlier of the same storm from a vantage point near Ordway, SD. Because digital cameras allow us to record the exact time and date, I am able to “track” the developing storm over time through my paintings. “The Valkyries Return” was from images of another storm I photographed north of Aberdeen the next month.

Additional works in this exhibit depict our varied landscape throughout the region – from farm fields near Springfield, a ranch south of Hermosa, scenes near the James River, a quiet winter image of the Black Hills, to a canola field in rural Manitoba. The old Payne homestead, near Java, SD, has served as an inspiration for artwork for over ten years. The “Steadfast Series” debuted at an exhibit here in the Lamont Gallery in March 1997. “Last Stop” is the final installment of this series.

I am pleased to be able to present this survey of my recent landscape work in the Lamont Gallery of the Dacotah Prairie Museum. I offer my thanks and appreciation to those who have supported the museum and its exhibition programs.

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