An Intergenerational Survey of Contemporary Lakota Art
Lakota Contemporary
EXHIBITION
Lakota Contemporary: An Intergenerational Survey of Contemporary Lakota Art
On display October 9th, 2025 – May 8th, 2026
Curated by artist laureate of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Marty Two-Bulls Jr., Lakota Contemporary is an intergenerational examination of contemporary Lakota Art. The featured artists span a wide range of careers, ages, genres, and mediums. Such artists include Martin Red Bear, Mikayla Patton, Keith Brave Heart, Marty Two-Bulls Jr. and many others.
Lakota Art defies the generalization of conventional western paradigms and instead is rooted in a deeper relationship to community and place. Historically, Lakota artists and creatives were innovators who adapted to an ever-changing world, adopting new materials, ideas, and ways of expressing themselves. The participating artists in this exhibition carry that same spirit. The goal of this exhibition is to allow those artists the opportunity to share works outside of a narrow theme or topic and encourages the avant-garde with the intention of challenging the audiences’ expectations.
Marty Two Bulls Jr. is an artist and educator based in Rapid City, SD. Two Bulls is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and was raised in the high plains of South Dakota. He is one of two inaugural Artist Laureates for the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Two Bulls comes from a large family of Lakota artists including his father Marty Two Bulls Sr. who is an accomplished editorial cartoonist. Marty Two Bulls Jr. has worked in arts education for the last 10 years. He earned his Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM and his Masters in Fine Arts from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Two Bulls has exhibited his artwork in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally with works in several museum permanent collections.
Journeys to the Edge
The Artistic Legacy of Waud, Burns, and Crane
EXHIBITION
Journeys to the Edge: The Artistic Legacy of Waud, Burns, and Crane
On display August 23rd, 2025 – April 4th, 2026
The Journey Museum is pleased to announce the opening of an exciting new art exhibition, Journeys to the Edge: The Artistic Legacy of Waud, Burns, and Crane, on August 23rd, 2025. This exhibition is included with regular museum admission and will be on display through April 4th, 2026.
Journeys to the Edge explores the artistic legacy, family connection, and the enduring power of place. This unique exhibition brings together the works of three artists: Alfred R. Waud, Milton J. Burns, and Jon Crane, whose lives and art are interwoven across generations.
Though separated by time and place, each artist shares a common thread: a deep connection to travel, observation, and artistic expression. From Jon Crane’s Great-Great Grandfather, Alfred R. Waud’s on-the-ground Civil War sketches and illustrations, his Great Grandfather Milton J. Burns’ vivid maritime scenes, to Crane’s own tranquil renderings of the prairies and Black Hills of South Dakota and other rural landscapes, their works document the changing of America through place and time.
Journeys to the Edge invites visitors to not only see the scenes that shaped these artists but to understand how place and time influence creativity across generations. Through original sketches, paintings, and interpretive displays, the exhibition offers a rare view into a lineage of art that spans over 150 years.
This exhibit is particularly special, because all the artwork by Waud and Burns are part of Crane’s private collection and all carefully framed by the Jon Crane Gallery and Custom Framing. Their legacy lives on not just in the subjects they captured, but in the hands of a descendant who continues the family’s artistic journey.
Avis Marvelous
Birds of the Western Frontier 1776-1896
EXHIBITION
Avis Marvelous: Birds of the Western Frontier 1776-1896
On display April 24th, 2026 – February 7, 2027
This exhibition invites visitors to look more closely—at birds, at history, and at the evolving relationship between art and science.
Featuring richly detailed 19th-century engravings created during government survey expeditions across the Trans-Mississippi West and Alaska, Avis Marvelous captures a time when observation shaped both artistic expression and scientific understanding. Artists documented bird species in regions largely unknown to Western science, producing works that are as visually striking as they are scientifically significant.
The exhibition includes works by John James Audubon, Daniel Giraud Elliot, Joseph Wolf, and Titian Ramsey Peale, many of which place birds within their natural environments—offering early visual records of ecosystems that have since changed.
The exhibition is reflective of the Black Hills through historic bird specimens from the museum’s Behrens Collection, gathered locally between the 1880s and 1920s.
Beyond its artistic merit, the exhibition highlights the ongoing importance of ornithology. Birds are widely recognized as early indicators of environmental change—responding quickly to shifts in climate, habitat, and pollution, often described as the “canary in the coal mine.” Their roles in seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control also make them essential to maintaining biodiversity and ecological balance.
Ornithology began with observation and curiosity and has evolved into a critical field within environmental science, helping guide conservation efforts in a rapidly changing world. Today, birdwatching remains one of the most accessible ways for people to engage with the natural world—an activity that begins with simple curiosity and deepens into a lasting connection with place.
An opening reception will be held on April 24 from 4:00–6:00 PM. The event is free and open to the public.
The exhibit is included with regular museum admission.