South Dakota. Great Faces. Great Places

South Dakota's tag line, Great Faces, Great Places, rings true. 

If you mention sculpture and South Dakota together, Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument inevitably springs to mind. 

But there is much more to South Dakota than the faces on the mountain, there are also lots of great places. 

As a state, they have embraced sculpture on a much wider scale. 

Excellent public art displays appear in all corners of the big, sparsely populated state and Ma Nature certainly set the standard high with extraordinary natural beauty.

Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls sits on the very eastern tip of state. It is a delightful city with the tumbling Big Sioux river cascading through the park in the center of town. 

They initiated the excellent SculptureWalk in 2004. Each year they display approximately 40-60 sculptures throughout the downtown area. 

All the sculptures are for sale during the year and the organization actively promotes them. 

In the first five years approximately 63 sculptures sold and 18 sculptures were leased. SculptureWalk is a non-profit volunteer organization and all money raised goes directly into the program. 

The public vote throughout the year for their favorite. It's not limited to local residents, anyone can vote and at the years end, the city buys the winner of the public vote. 

It is then placed in a permanent position in the park around the falls or downtown. It is truly uplifting to see a city support a project like this and to see the high level of work submitted.

The city produces an excellent brochure featuring a walking tour of the sculptures each year and docent tours are available for groups of 6 or more. 

More information can be obtained online or from the visitors center at the Chamber of Commerce downtown. 

Sculptures can also be found in the lobbies of a couple of the banks, at the Sioux Falls regional airport, at the convention center and on 41st Street. 

In addition there is a USF Campus Sculpture Walk and another at Avera McKennan Hospital & Health Center.

Badlands National Park

Further to the West the vast natural wonder, Badlands National Park, easily classifies as a sculptural marvel. Spend a day or a week driving or hiking in this area and you will not be disappointed. 

Intricately woven canyons dig deep down in to earth revealing orange and yellow strata and the towering cliffs with a base of white sand and bright yellow bushes need no more adornment than the flash of green shrubs, perhaps a big horn sheep or a couple of pronghorns.

Rapid City

​On the very Western edge of the state the smaller Rapid City is not to be outdone. 

Their nickname, 'the Presidents city,' is self explanatory - they have life size sculptures of all the American presidents placed downtown. 

You can stroll along and take your photo with every single one if you like, or just your favorites. 

The library has an evocative sculpture of a woman reading to children and a couple of fun Seuss characters placed around the pavement. 

One of the large galleries downtown, Prairie Edge, has an excellent sculpture of a Native American woman and child at the entrance to the gallery.

Now the city has another innovative program, the Sculpture Project, in a central square downtown. 

In 2011 Destination Rapid City replaced an old parking lot in the center of downtown by turning it into the Main Street Square and launched the Sculpture Project. 

After a selection process they announced Masayuki Nagase, out of Berkeley Calif., as the project artist. Nagase proposed a body of work entitled 'Passage of Wind and Water.' 

Each year he spends the summer working on the large sized pieces placed around the square. 

The public can watch his progress and he holds artist talks to explain his process and ideas.

The Black Hills & Custer State Park 

​Rapid City is a good base to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial and the Crazy Horse monuments located in the Black Hills area, one of nature's beautiful places. 

Both of these monumental works are certainly famous. Everyone knows 'the faces on the mountain.' and it is definitely worth a trip to see them. 

And while at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, don't miss the opportunity to spend time in the artist, Gutzon Borglum's, studio to see his study for the sculpture.

It is quite different from the sculpture seen today and one wonders at the change of direction.

Custer State Park is included in this area, it is large and needs time to explore and it shouldn't be missed. 

Natural sculptures abound around every breathtaking corner, especially along the Needles drive. 

Small towns like Hill City dot the area and they too have adorned their streets with sculptures, mostly made from found objects or scrap metal. 

Naturally, as it's a Western state, horses feature often.

Plan on spending time in South Dakota, not just a day to see Mount Rushmore, the Badlands or the touristy Wall Drug, the state is so much more than this. 

Find the hidden gems tucked in it's vast prairie, take time to stroll their towns and city streets full of excellent sculptures, visit the Badlands National Park, Custer State Park and the Black Hills in awe of nature's art. 

You will certainly enjoy this state with it's natural and man made beauty.

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