2024 - Volume #48, Issue #4, Page #21
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Visit The Redlin Art Center In America’s Heartland – For Free
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“The building is unexpected on the South Dakota prairie with beautiful granite and crystal chandeliers. It’s very well done, and the Redlins spared no expense,” says Julie Ranum, executive director of the center built by the Terry Redlin family in 1997.
It was Redlin’s way of paying back the state and giving folks a reason to visit his hometown of Watertown. The payback was for the $1,500 scholarship South Dakota gave Redlin after he lost a leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 15. He used the money to attend art school, leading to work as a commercial artist before venturing on his own to paint wildlife in 1977 when he was 40.
Some FARM SHOW readers may have seen his work on the covers of “The Farmer” magazine. Redlin exchanged cover art for free ads. That and an ongoing partnership with Ducks Unlimited brought attention to his work and led him to expand into other areas.
“Visitors at the center will see the American rural landscape as it existed throughout Terry Redlin’s life. Nothing needs explanation. He’s known as the ‘Master of Memories.’ He captured his memories and our memories, too,” Ranum says.
Two popular prints sold online and at the center’s gift shop are “Evening With Friends” and “Best Friends.”
His work also includes serious topics that touch and affect visitors. “An American Portrait” has seven paintings that follow the life of a boy and his journey through high school, college, and military service. It ends with someone delivering a notice of a soldier’s death. It was Redlin’s way of dealing with and honoring the death of his brother-in-law, who was killed at the Battle of Khe Sanh in Vietnam.
Wildlife, working horses, farmsteads, and most rural scenes imaginable can be found in the artwork throughout the center, thanks to Redlin’s son, Charles, who convinced his father to stop selling his original paintings starting in 1985.
“We hear from people who collect Terry’s art that to see the originals is amazing because of their sheer size. They have such depth that they seem almost three-dimensional,” Ranum says.
She suggests planning a few hours at the center. A video in a 108-seat theatre tells Redlin’s story from his youth to his struggles with dementia. Take a self-guided tour through the center’s three stories of art.
The Redlin Art Center is open year-round, seven days a week from Memorial through Labor Day, and closed on Sundays and major holidays (July 4, Christmas, etc.) during the off-season.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Redlin Art Center, 1200 33rd Street SE, Watertown, S.D. 57201 (ph 877-873-3546; www.redlinart.com).
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