Two years after the National Endowment for the Arts was founded, the North Dakota Council on the Arts was founded. Since its creation in 1967, the NDCA remains committed to supporting and developing the arts within North Dakota.
To celebrate their years of service to artists and the arts, the NDCA in, conjunction with the North Dakota Art Gallery Association, have curated 50 pieces from 50 North Dakotan artists to display in the Heritage Center in Bismarck, ND.
“During NDCA’s 50 years, it has provided varied services to the citizens of North Dakota,” said NDCA executive director Beth Gigante Klingenstein said in a press release about the event. “The agency addresses the need for creativity in public education and enhances arts education. NDCA increases the economic impact the arts have on our state and on local communities, improves the wellness of our citizens through the use of arts programming, preserves our cultural heritage through folk and traditional arts mentorships and enhances the quality of life for all of our citizens.”
Artists in the exhibit range from all over North Dakota, including big cities like Fargo, Bismarck and Grand Forks, to Belcourt, Manning and Noonan.
Also included are two NDSU professors, Kent Kapplinger and Kimble Bromley. Kapplinger teaches printmaking and drawing and Bromley teaches painting and drawing. Both Kapplinger and Bromley are also included in the current Memorial Union Gallery exhibition, featuring NDSU visual arts faculty and artists in residence.
“Fifty artists for fifty years — each artist is a testament to growth of the arts in North Dakota, a snapshot of the present and a hope for the arts in the future of our state,” exhibition curator Linda Olsen said. “Artists, emerging and seasoned, take their place in the history of this great state, and their fine artworks showcase the diversity among them and the connection they have to North Dakota.”
The exhibition is a testament to artists of various mediums living and working within North Dakota, providing an excellent overview of the diversity of talents within the state.
The show will be on display from Oct. 28 to April 30, 2017 and a touring exhibition will continue through Dec. 2018.