Daniel Parsons’ art show Over the Next Hill Images will run from February 1 to March 29 at the Dacotah Prairie Museum’s Lamont Gallery. The show features over 40 pieces of old and new art. A reception will be held on March 1 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Some of the paintings displayed at the Lamont Gallery were painted back in the 90s.
Parsons started painting back in the 79s. His mother worked for Hardin’s Photography and colorized photos, and his uncle is also an artist. But Parsons never took art classes back when he was in high school. His first official class wasn’t until he attended Bismarck State College on a football scholarship.
“I had a great instructor, Richard Sammons,” Parsons said. “He kept me going. Over time we became friends.”
After college, Parsons lived in the Twin Cities and painted part-time while he worked. Eventually, he grew tired of city life, returned to South Dakota, and renovated a house in Columbia.
Parsons now creates art full time after retiring from the post office. He recently renovated his own studio space just outside of Aberdeen.
As a wildlife artist, Parsons often references photos to create his paintings.
“I always do wildlife. That’s what I like. A friend of mine, Keith Reisenauer, is a photographer and makes trips to Africa,” he said. Parsons takes his own photos as well. They go through great lengths to capture interesting shots, including camping out in grizzly bear territory.
“I’d hunt and fish all the time, and I’d always do more camera stuff than hunting,” he said. “I’ve done enough research for the next 100 years!”
Parsons mainly paints, but in the past he’s worked with ceramics, sculpture, pastels, and watercolors. On average, it takes him a couple weeks to a month to complete a painting.
“You learn a lot of things as you go,” he said.
Some of his popular subjects include dogs, horses, farms, and hunting scenes. He also does a lot of commission work, and he sells prints of his original paintings. Over the years, he’s won several awards for his artwork. Two of his pieces have been displayed in Pierre at the South Dakota State Capitol. His work has been shown in several galleries across the region as well, namely in the Twin Cities and Sioux Falls. He’s spent a lot of time in Minnesota, since there are more art galleries there.
“You have to go to where the people are,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of galleries in town. We’ve had more galleries before, like the old high school gallery, but people didn’t know about it.”
Parsons said that it’d be nice for more galleries to come to Aberdeen, especially downtown. Artists need support for the community, and visiting local art galleries is one way to help.
“It’s a great journey, but it’s hard,” he said. “Sometimes you falter, then you keep going. You see some artists that have a gift, and some guys like me struggle, but I get there. You have to keep at it.”
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