“Who Are These People? What Do They Really Want?” Exhibition of Roger Broer Monotypes Opens at Dahl

EDITOR'S NOTE: An exhibition of Roger Broer monotypes is now on display at the Inez and Milton Shaver Gallery of the Dahl Arts Center. The Exhibition will be open to the public through April 3. Black Hills artist Denise Du Broy interviewed Broer at his recent monotype workshop.

Denise Du Broy: Where did your relationship with art begin? Was it always there as a child?

Roger Broer: It's always been there. I have only learned technique. But my concept of how I view art, I've leaned to describe it through college, and other people, I can verbalize it, but the feelings are still the same. Nothing has changed there.

By Denise DuBroy 27 February 2010 Full Interview

Tom Katus Looks at the “Civilian Surge” in Afghanistan, and Sees His Youth

EDITOR'S UPDATE: February 22, 2010: The Battle for Marja, Afghanistan is ten days old. As anticipated the fighting has resulted in few American or allied casualties. The Afghan Army is ineffective. The Taliban and their allies fight like ghosts. Civilians have taken the brunt of the offensive. No surprise there. American soldiers have found that downtown Marja, such as it exists, barely exists. Under Taliban control for the last eighteen months, there has been only marginal government administration, and no reconstruction. Now the pro-American "government in a box" will have their turn to win over the population.

One of the striking developments of the last week speaks directly to the future of the Obama counterinsurgency strategy and the heart of Tom Katus' proposal reported below. The United Nations announced that it would not participate in civilian development projects that are tied to military occupation. The distinctions are fine...to a fault. But the bottom line seems to be that the U.N.'s civilian reconstruction teams do not want to be tainted by an association with the military occupation. As U.N. spokesman Wael Haj-Ibrahim told the New York Times, "...the military should not be involved in providing health care or schools. 'If that aid is being delivered as part of a military strategy, the counterstrategy is to destroy that aid,' Mr. Haj-Ibrahim said. 'Allowing the military to do it is not the best use of resources.' Instead, he said, the military should confine itself to clearing an area of security threats and providing security for humanitarian organizations to deliver services.

Three months ago, when military commanders were pressing President Obama for a 40,000 troop increase to implement a new counterinsurgency strategy, almost no one paid any attention to the fact that we were backing into a massive military escalation with one arm tied behind our back.

By Tom Katus 14 February 2010 Full Article

“Iron and Oil” Exhibition Brings Two South Dakota Artists to the Dahl

EDITOR'S NOTE: Continuing its gallop toward being a first class regional museum, the Dahl Arts Center is now featuring an exhibition of oil paintings and sculpture by local artists Jenny Braig and John Lopez. Braig's thick, richly textured oil paintings feature Midwestern landscapes, while Lopez's sculptures of western icons, sculpted from found objects reflect the hard-edged toughness of ranch life on the Great Plains.    http://www.thedahl.org/ The exhibition will be open through March 8 in the Senator Adelstein and Lynda Clark Gallery. Black Hills artist Denise Du Broy caught up with Jenny Braig at her temporary easel in the corner of the galley for an interview about Braig's life and work.  Click here to see more from both artists.

By Denise DuBroy 04 February 2010 Full Interview

Changing of the Guard Breathes New Life into The Heritage Center at Red Cloud School

Editor's Note: For over forty years Brother C.M. Simon, SJ, was the The Heritage Center at Red Cloud School on the Pine Ridge Reservation. (http://www.redcloudschool.org/museum/staff.htm) Like a whirlwind, he purchased and collected thousands of pieces of art, curated the annual summer art exhibition, and kept his finger on the pulse of emerging artists from Navajo Country to Standing Rock. When Brother Simon passed away two years ago in a tragic drowning accident at Angostura Reservoir the future of the The Heritage Center was entrusted to two exceptional young museum executives--Director Peter Strong, and Curator Mary Bordeaux. The two sat down recently with Black Hills artist Denise DuBroy for a conversation about one of the most comprehensive but little known collections of Native American art in the country...just a hundred miles from Rapid City.

By Denise DuBroy 30 September 2009 Full Article