Echoes of the Black Hills

Colors may vary due to differences in screens, lighting, and photography.

DESCRIPTION:

Echoes of the Black Hills began not as a deliberate depiction of monuments or icons, but as an exploration of color, texture, and emotion. Through layers of acrylics, inks, textiles, pumice stone, aluminum, and pastels, shapes and figures began to emerge on their own—possibly only seen by the artist—faces, animals, and energy rising from the canvas as if they were always there, waiting to be seen. To the artist, the work carries abstract echoes of Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse—his powerful image, his horse, and an eagle—emerging only to those who look deeply and openly. A symbolic head, representing the four presidents carved into the Black Hills, seems to watch over the piece, blending spirit and stone. 

The artist describes this process as being called by the painting itself, for she didn’t set out to create symbols of Rushmore, Crazy Horse, or the Black Hills. To her, they surfaced through the work, as though the land and its stories wanted to be heard. What emerges is the artist’s vision, seen through her eyes, yet it remains open to interpretation, inviting each viewer to discover their own meanings.

The plum and purple tones, shifting from light to darkness, mirror the duality of the piece; strength and fragility, history and myth, permanence and change. When this versatile painting turns 90 degrees, the image transforms again, revealing animals and surreal figures, suggesting that truth and meaning are never fixed, only uncovered through time and perspective.

The work is both an homage and a dialogue – a reflection of the Black Hills as a living presence, whispering through stone, spirit, and imagination.