What Is The Best Art Gallery Or Museum In South Dakota?

5 min readMay 27, 2019

For the past 11 years, American Art Awards has decided the 25 Best Galleries and Museums in America. Among the criteria: years in business, industry reputation, online activity, location, size, exhibits, educational programs, represented artists and references from artists, clients and visitors. Only one per state per year is selected.

American Art Awards: “The South Dakota Art Museum is going into its 50th year with a well-earned reputation of delivering everything a top museum offers and consistently surpassing expectations. SDAM always wows our board, as it does visitors from around the world, featured artists, and the students and faculty at South Dakota State University who are able to incorporate its exhibits and collections into their course work. Some of the prettiest contemporary interiors we have come across magnificently display exhibits curated from its extensive permanent collection and from its connections to emerging and internationally known artists as well as national traveling exhibitions. The gallery designs and exhibitions are pertinent, relevant and educational…

“SDAM exhibits work from many artists with ties to South Dakota, including acclaimed painter Harvey Dunn, children’s book author and illustrator Paul Goble and noted Native American artists such as Arthur Amiotte and Oscar Howe, as well as many emerging Native artists. It also seeks out artists and traveling exhibitions that bring fresh and challenging perspectives from outside the state such as sculptors Richard Van Buren (Maine/NY) and Gisela Colon (CA), Ojibwe painter Rabbett Before Horses Strickland (WI) and many more. In fact, with 15–17 exhibitions per year rotating through its seven galleries there seems to always be something new to experience in person and online.

“Also of note is the museum’s groundbreaking collaboration with the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies (CAIRNS) to deliver educational art exhibitions addressing challenging issues such as the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 and the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Contemporary Lakota artists, poets and musicians create works that explore these topics from a fresh and personal perspective that stimulates conversation as well as reflection.

“American Art Awards is thrilled to name the South Dakota Art Museum as Best Gallery or Museum in South Dakota, 2019, and one of our Top 25 for this year.”

ABOUT THE MUSEUM:

Since 1970, the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings has been a place for people around the world to enjoy the artistic legacy of South Dakota in all its diversity. Rotating exhibits feature Harvey Dunn, Native American art, Marghab Linens and Paul Goble; as well as exhibits curated from regional, national and international artists.

The museum has more than 7,000 objects in its collection including paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, textiles, and ceramics. The museum store features jewelry, pottery, and original works of art by local and regional artists in addition to books on South Dakota history and culture.

The South Dakota Art Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). This accreditation recognizes the Museum’s commitment and demonstration of the highest professional standards for education, public service and collections care.

The museum’s mission statement: As stewards of the state’s art treasures, the South Dakota Art Museum collects, preserves and exhibits visual art to provide access and education, to foster appreciation of the visual arts for the people of South Dakota and its visitors.