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South Dakota Art Museum – South Dakota State University

The South Dakota Art Museum presents South Dakota Artist Series: Ginny Freitag and Larry Negaard on view from July 12 - October 23, 2005. There will be an artist reception on September 16 from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. with a gallery talk at 5:30.

Ginny Freitag says she has a great love of working with clay, finding the rhythmic rolling of coils to be somewhat of a personal ritual in becoming more at peace with all that she encounters. Ginny says she is inspired by people, nature, art history and the idea of women as vessels, receptacles and guardians. She is interested in the form, texture and the uncontrolled beauty of raku firing.

Freitag graduated from Dakota State College in Madison, SD with a Bachelors of Arts with an art major. She then went on to take graduate courses in, among others, arts curriculum, advanced ceramics and creative projects-paper making.

Freitag uses women and animals frequently in her work, both literally and symbolically. In a recent artist’s statement she said, “I do not believe in strict interpretations of art, and it is my intention that the viewer respond to my work based on their own experience.”

She is currently an art instructor at Madison Central School in Madison, SD and was previously a ceramics instructor at Dakota State University. Some of her previous honors include an exhibition in a juried show at the Horse Barn in Sioux Falls in 2004 and an acceptance into the Argyle Zebra Coop Gallery in St. Paul, MN.

Larry Negaard said his art is driven by his curiosity. He has explored a wide array of media and styles and incorporates images into his collages which he has collected because he the associations between the images. The constants in his artistic journey have been the representational image, a high degree of draftsmanship, and an innate sense of composition. From his early works, to his more recent works these constants can be seen. The influences can also be discerned, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Lloyd Wright and Francis Lee Jacques.

Negaard graduated from St. Cloud State College in 1971 with a BS in Art Education. He is currently dedicating his time to his artwork in Watertown, SD and in the past has worked as an advertising representative and an art educator.

Some of his previous exhibitions have included a retrospective exhibit at the Brookings Cultural Center in 2004 and several one man shows throughout South Dakota and Minnesota.

For more information contact the SD Art Museum at 688-5423 and toll free at 1-866-805-7590. Museum hours are Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sundays from 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.