What is Seeing Dakota?
Seeing Dakota brings together the reflections of a constructive theologian, Ann Pederson, with the artistic process of a visual artist, Sheila Agee. Together they create and cultivate imaginative and transformative practices of seeing and interpreting the world around us. They will offer a hermeneutics of seeing. This interpretive lens (pun intended) is the heart of the project. The visual focus is Dakota, the geography of the Upper Great Plains. To traverse the Dakotas is to see, explore and understand its many confluences and collisions.
The art of Seeing Dakota was recently featured in Intersections, an online Lutheran journal of Faith, Learning, and the Vocation of Lutheran Higher Education:
https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/intersections/
The music of Seeing Dakota, by Gary Pederson:
The music composed for this art show is my response to some of the images and reflections created by Sheila Agee and Ann Pederson
Confluences joins the sounds of Native American flute and the harmonica in both harmonious and dissonant ways. It is based on the Hiawatha Cemetery painting and uses folk and hymn tunes to evoke both comfort and distress.
Dogs is a 3-Part Invention inspired by our three dogs running and fighting playfully.
Cows is a humorous musical response to the striking and impressive paintings of cattle by Sheila.
Gary Pederson is a middle school band director, musician, and amateur artist. The music for the show was composed with the aid of GarageBand loops and self-recorded tracks.
About Sheila Agee:
Sheila Agee lives and works out of her studio near Brandon, South Dakota. Her work most often reflects whatever nature has to offer—hoping to capture the light of the sky or reflect on the essence of a more intimate detail.
About Ann Pederson:
Ann Pederson is a Professor of Religion at Augustana University. She teaches and does research at the intersections of theology and the arts, theology and science, and theology and feminism.