Quote: Exiting I-29 and joining U.S. Highway 212 westbound, you will find the Redlin Art Center close by on the south side of the the highway. It is Watertown, South Dakota's proudest sight to see, recommended to all tourists and natives alike. Here is how the center came into being. It is said as a young man Terry Redlin wanted to be a Forest Ranger, loved animals and wanted to work in the outdoors. Then one day he took his first ride on a motorcycle, on the back with a friend. There was a crash and his legs were crippled. This put a stop to any thought of being a Forest Ranger and he studied to be an artist. Redlin succeeded mightily as an artist and was granted great acclaim by the art world. His work sold easily and he wanted to share his good fortune with humanity. Redlin decided to build and donate an art center to his hometown, Watertown, South Dakota. One hundred original Redlin paintings are on display in the Redlin Art Center. The gift shop has prints for sale, for a couple hundred dollars. Smaller ones are in the fifty to seventy-five dollar range. Trinkets, knickknacks and books are also available. There is a guided tour and a theater presentation. When you visit the center you find an impressive building. Inside you get a singular impression of the paintings. They are all the same, like those bullfighter scenes on velvet sold on the streets just across the Rio Grande River in Mexico. American tourists buy those velvet prints to prove they been there. What you see in Redlin's work is a captivating blend of reds that form stupendous sunsets. The sun is always setting in his paintings. There are indigenous South Dakota animals in all the paintings, pheasants taking flight, deer peering from the woods, ducks and geese sitting or just taking flight. All this seems to represent Terry Redlin's love of the outdoors and his feeling of impending doom. The sun did set in his life and darkness came upon his dream of ever being a Forest Ranger. The Art Center has South Dakota's only planetarium. Telephone 605-882-3877, hours 8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat, 12-5pm Sun. Free admission.
From journals Touring Northeastern South Dakota