Featured artwork: JoAnne Bird, New Dawn (1993); Martin Red Bear, Northern Plains Warriors (1988); Del Iron Cloud, Big Medicine (2006).

The Northern Plains are home to diverse Indigenous nations with artistic traditions shaped by generations of knowledge, cultural identity and creative expression.

Drawing from the Visual Arts Center’s permanent collection, Continuum: Indigenous Art of the Northern Plains brings together historical and contemporary works that reflect the breadth and evolution of Indigenous art across the region.

Featuring influential artists including Oscar Howe, Arthur Amiotte and Donald Montileaux, alongside recent acquisitions and works by other regional artists, the exhibition explores how Indigenous artists interpret history, community, identity and lived experience.

From beadwork and quillwork to painting, printmaking, sculpture and other contemporary approaches, the works reveal connections between tradition and innovation, individual expression and collective identity. Together, they celebrate the continuing vitality of Indigenous art and its essential place in the cultural landscape of the Northern Plains.

About the Collection

The Visual Arts Center has preserved and presented Northern Plains Tribal Art in the Egger Gallery since 2015. The collection includes significant works such as Arthur Amiotte’s Parfleche Circle and Oscar Howe’s Ghost Dance, as well as 16 works from the Augustana Tribal Arts Collection.

The collection documents Indigenous art across generations, including artists who carry forward traditional practices such as quillwork and beadwork and those who incorporate Indigenous imagery and perspectives into contemporary media such as bronze and printmaking.

The Augustana Tribal Arts Collection

The Augustana Tribal Arts Collection became part of the Visual Arts Center’s permanent collection in 2013. The works originated from the Northern Plains Tribal Arts Juried Art Show and Market, presented by American Indian Services, Inc. in Sioux Falls from 1988–2003.

The annual event celebrated traditional and contemporary art created by living members of Northern Plains tribes and became an internationally recognized venue connecting Native artists with collectors. The artwork was originally housed at the Visual Arts Center on extended loan before being formally acquired in 2013 with the support of community donors.