Two local artists used the Collaboration Grant through the South Dakota Arts Council to paint a mural and host reception in Rapid City. The piece is on the outside of the Racing Magpie Art Gallery and represents a creation story from Lakota culture.
Micheal Two Bulls is one of the artists responsible for the Racing Magpie mural. He creates two and three-dimensional art along with music. This event combines his interests and draws attention to other local artists.
“It doesn’t seem like it but man, we go through paint so quick and time so when this grant came out, we thought man this is the perfect opportunity to seize the moment.”
Two Bulls say he and his partner used the nearly six thousand grant to purchase Materials, food, space and pay musicians to perform at the reception.
The mural runs along two exterior walls of the art gallery, visible from the blocked off parking lot. It’s all in black and white, highly contrasted with geometric shapes.
“Initially we wanted it to represent this Black Hills are or Mniluzahan which is kind of the original term of this area of the Lakotas that were here before Hay Camp or anything. So we kind of wanted to represent that but kind of wanted to represent that but also make it pop and showcase Racing Magpie.”
Two Bulls and Bryan Parker had many conversations about how they could combine their styles for the collaboration. Parker mainly works with mixed media and different forms of paint. He says they put their ideas together and came up with something unique.
“The overall mural, how it’s going to end up looking is a representation of the Great Race-that’s a story in Lakota culture. Just a play on that but with other different imagery that just meets our style choices. We have a giant magpie that’s coming along beautifully and then I did some clouds all across in black and white.”
The reception for the mural is scheduled for Friday evening at the Racing Magpie Art Galley in Rapid City.