Vermillion’s Private Collection

Evans Flammond, Sr.
2017
Ledger paper and ink
14" x 18"

“Note the buffalo skulls drawn into the horse.” Flammond currently sells prints of this original. Flammond is Sicangu Lakota and is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. He lives in Pine Ridge.
Learn more about Evans Flammond, Sr.

Megan Dirks
2008—09
Painting
50" x 36"

Megan was an undergraduate art student at USD. She was a bright-eyed, sweet soul who many knew from the Coffee Shop Gallery, where she worked as a barista. Tragically, Megan was diagnosed with lung cancer during her graduate studies in Iowa City. She passed away on Aug 27, 2010. The Vermillion arts community mourned her loss for a long time, and she still has a large number of close friends in southeast SD who honor her memory. I find her work so compelling vibrant and soothing, a bit like who she was as a person.

Liz Moyer
2012
Mixed media
8.5" x 6"

This is one of a series of prints of details of the artist's family, embellished with embroidery, watercolor, and beadwork. I love the “exhale“ implied here.

Susan Heggestad
2018
Collagraph on paper with stitching
17" x 11"

Choosing my favorite piece of Susan's is a difficult task. But this one from her series focusing on violence against woman hangs in my office and reminds me of our shared responsibility to make the world a better place every day.
Learn more about Susan Heggestad.

Joseph Tafoya, Jr. (Oku Wa Tsa)
c. 1939
Watercolor
4" x 6"

Joseph Tafoya, Jr. (Oku Wa Tsa) was one of the more important Santa Clara traditional painters. He studied art under Dorothy Dunn at the Studio in the 1930s, alongside Allan Houser, Oscar Howe, and Pablita Velarde. While attending high school, one of his pueblo paintings won a national art competition, judged by Norman Rockwell. He was a master at capturing traditional life and customs of the Santa Clara pueblo Indians. A notation on the back of this watercolor gives the title “Buffalo Dance (men)” and indicates that he painted it at the age of 17.

Amy Fill
Paper
12" x 9"

I love the colors and texture of this piece—quilted flowers that never wilt!
Learn more about Amy Fill.

Robert “Bobby” Penn
acq. 2015
Oil on canvas
16" x 20"

A Sicanga Sioux/Omaha artist, Penn established himself as a leading American Indian artist in South Dakota and nationally. Penn attended the University of South Dakota, where he studied under Oscar Howe and received a bachelor of fine arts. He later worked as an art instructor and illustrator at the university. Penn lived on a 100-year-old homestead near Vermillion until his death in 1999.
Learn more about Bobby Penn.

Epiphany Knedler
2018
Lithograph
18" x 26"

Epiphany Knedler has a great sense of humor, and I love how it comes through in her artwork!
Learn more about Epiphany Knedler.

Jon Crane
1995
Print of original painting
26" x 53"

Note from the artist to the owner: Last Dollar Road was painted from the last dollar road just outside of Telluride Colorado. In the 1800s it was a toll road over Dallas Divide. The miners had to save a dollar for the toll. Best wishes, Jon Crane. The print now hangs over our fireplace mantle and we still have Mr. Crane's note. This painting is a shining example of Jon Crane's artistic eye, color, and his love of the outdoors.
Learn more about Jon Crane.

Rebecca Froelich
Alcohol ink
16" x 24"

This alcohol ink piece has such amazing color and light. It feels like looking through a stained glass window.

Rebecca Froelich is a 2017 graduate of USD’s Fine Arts program.

Ron Kowalke
Embossed print, #14 of 25
15" x 22"

We included this piece due to its connection to Vermillion history. In 1967 Thomas White Hawk murdered a Vermillion jeweler. White Hawk was a premed student. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. In subsequent years, there was an appeal. During this time, there were fundraising efforts to help fund his appeal. An attempt was made to contact the artist, who now lives in Hawaii, to determine whether these prints were done as part of a fundraising effort; however, the artist did not respond. Kowalke did have an interest in Native American causes. White Hawk’s sentence was commuted to life in prison and died there in 1997.
Learn more about Ron Kowalke.
Learn about Thomas White Hawk’s appeal.

Oscar Howe
1960
Print of original painting
26" x 37"

Origin of the Sioux is simply, in my humble opinion, the finest painting Oscar Howe ever created. The imagery it presents is awe inspiring—it is his most powerful creation and we are very pleased to have this print.

Oscar Howe belonged to the Yanktonai band of Dakota people. Howe became Professor of Art at USD in 1957 and lived in Vermillion until his death in 1983.
Learn more about Oscar Howe.

Epiphany Knedler
Photograph
8" x 10"

Epiphany does a lot of cool things with manipulating photographs. I love the color and light in this picture of street food.
Learn more about Epiphany Knedler.

Madison Schrieber-Roberts
2018
Oil painting
40" x 7'

We looked for several years for a painting that would add a lot of color to our living room and finally commissioned Maddie to do one for us. Maddie's painting certainly does add lots of color—it is bright, full of light, and nature. It is a beautiful autumn scene that we get to enjoy every day.

Epiphany Knedler
2015
Print
10" x 8"

This piece makes me think of a woodcut from a book of folktales.
Learn more about Epiphany Knedler.

Oscar Howe
Watercolor
8" x 12"

This piece was a personal gift from the artist. Oscar Howe belonged to the Yanktonai band of Dakota people. Howe became Professor of Art at USD in 1957 and lived in Vermillion until his death in 1983.
Learn more about Oscar Howe.

Richard Tucker
2018
Bronze
Life-sized

Magnificent birds, vultures return to Vermillion each spring.

Richard Tucker is a wildlife and western-theme sculptor who lives in Arizona, after practicing his art for 12 years in Custer.  He has been featured in many art shows, including three times in the Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk and winning the Outstanding Art Award in Brookings’ Art in the Park summer show.  His large bronze jack rabbit, “Baby Jack,” is currently being installed at the new Custer Regional Hospital. 
Learn more about Richard Tucker.

Carolyn Norris
Oil painting
2011
10" x 12"

This abstract by Carolyn Norris was painted on the door of an old cabinet. It was hanging in her kitchen along with a dozen or more pieces of her work the day we visited her. Carolyn’s folk art is always full of joy and triumph despite the poverty she and many other African Americans lived in. Cleveland, Mississippi, like so many small towns in the deep South, still has large populations that live on “the other side of the tracks.”

Keith BraveHeart
Multimedia
24" x 24"

Purchased at a USD student art sale. I have several of Keith BraveHeart's earlier works, but this one is my favorite because of the Wounded Knee connection.

BraveHeart is a modern native artist whose art takes a strong influence from his Native American cultural background. He grew up in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Lakota and completed his master’s of fine arts in painting at USD.
Learn more about Keith BraveHeart.

David Langner
Print
12" x 17"

I love black and white prints in this style. I'm drawn to them wherever I see them. The suggestion of strained musculature and roots really makes me love this piece.

David Langner is a 2015 graduate of USD’s Visual and Performing Arts program.

Marlon Brewer
2013
Painting
16" x 24"

This original of a Mississippi cotton field was a gift upon my retirement.

Robert “Bobby” Penn
Painting
40" x 30"

This painting is representative of Penn's later stage, a mixture of naturalism and abstract expression. I love the haunting nature of it as well as the vivid colors.

A Sicanga Sioux/Omaha artist, Penn established himself as a leading American Indian artist in South Dakota and nationally. Penn attended the University of South Dakota, where he studied under Oscar Howe and received a bachelor of fine arts. He later worked as an art instructor and illustrator at the university. Penn lived on a 100-year-old homestead near Vermillion until his death in 1999.
Learn more about Bobby Penn.

Nancy Losacker
acq. 217
Tile mosaic
22" x 30"

I love Nancy's choice of colors and materials that she uses for all of her mosaics.

Robert “Bobby” Penn
acq. 1992
Painting
10" x 14"

Robert Penn painted many portraits of Indian men and women but considered them his inferior work. To me, this majestic portrait is anything but inferior. We have had the painting for many years and each time I stop and look at it carefully, some new emotion pulls me into it.

A Sicanga Sioux/Omaha artist, Penn established himself as a leading American Indian artist in South Dakota and nationally. Penn attended the University of South Dakota, where he studied under Oscar Howe and received a bachelor of fine arts. He later worked as an art instructor and illustrator at the university. Penn lived on a 100-year-old homestead near Vermillion until his death in 1999.
Learn more about Bobby Penn.

Margaret Maynard
c. 1900
Oil painting
12" x 19"

Margaret Maynard was an early, if not the first, art professor at the University of South Dakota. She came to Vermillion as a young woman from New York state. The painting has been in my family for several generations. It has no name I have ever heard, though we talk about Hudson Valley because that's the area the family came from and the school of painting it belongs to.
Learn more about the Hudson River School of landscape painting.

Leila Ghasempor
acq. 2018
Watercolor
19" x 13"

Purchased at USD International Club’s Festival of Nations. I love the bold colors and the subject matter.

Leila Ghasempor is a multidisciplinary artist with works including action performances, sounds, cinedans, photography, installations, sculptures, and works on paper. She earned her BFA majored Sculpture and minored Art History at the University of South Dakota in 2017.

Learn more about Leila Ghasempor.

Oscar Howe
1972
Print of original painting
25" x 31"

Oscar was a good friend of mine—we were on the same bowling team for many years—and my wife and I have a number of his prints in our home. His work is so unique and so distinctive. The Wood Gatherer is emblematic of the burdens placed on Native Americans.

Oscar Howe belonged to the Yanktonai band of Dakota people. Howe became Professor of Art at USD in 1957 and lived in Vermillion until his death in 1983.
Learn more about Oscar Howe.

Valerie Lueth
c. 2003
Woodblock print
6" x 10.5"

Val has such an amazing talent for woodcarving and creating her prints. I love watching her talent grow over the years, but her early work is just as good!

Lueth grew up in South Dakota and received her bachelor of Fine Arts from USD in 2004. She is co-founder of Tugboat Printshop in Pittsburgh, PA.
Learn more about Valerie Lueth.