Interview questions ideated by Jacob Factor, Visitor Services & Membership Coordinator.
From June 28-July 28, 2024, RedLine was a proud host of the FEMA ArtWorks Climate Resiliency, Photography and Storytelling exhibition. In collaboration with FEMA Region 8, Resilience Action Partners, Southwest Gallery & Science Center, and Ogden Contemporary Arts, this impactful exhibition highlighted the urgent call for climate resilience in our communities.
Through art and photography, it explored the delicate balance between human life and the environment, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding our shared home.
RedLine Contemporary Art Center. Image credit: Jaylyn Begay.
After its run at RedLine, the exhibition headed to the Southwest Art Gallery and Science Center in Dickinson, North Dakota, from August 2-August 30, before its final showing at Ogden Contemporary Arts in Ogden, Utah, from August 9-October 13.
With the show’s closing, we asked Dustin Young, Executive Director of Southwest Art Gallery + Science, about his reflections on how the exhibition impacted his community in Dickinson, North Dakota.
Dustin was raised in Dumont, MN. He studied Drawing and Painting at Minnesota State University Moorhead, Boston’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dustin and his family currently reside in western North Dakota, where he continues his art practice.
Can you explain a little about what led to the partnership that brought FEMA ArtWorks Climate Resiliency, Photography and Storytelling Exhibition to Dickinson?
Bringing the FEMA exhibition to Dickinson is the age-old tale of right place, right time. I’m a RedLine Resident Artist Alumn from 2016-2018 (side note: earning this title is one of my favorite personal/professional accomplishments and I look back on my time there with incredible gratitude).
In 2018, my wife and I decided to move back to North Dakota to raise our family. Since then, I have kept up my studio practice, worked a few different occupations, and got involved with the local arts community. That led to the Southwest Art Gallery + Science Center, which was a newly founded organization in 2022 that didn’t have a location.
Things have very moved quickly to where we already own a building with an art gallery and I was hired as Executive Director. This is where “right place, right time” comes in.
RedLine’s Executive Director Louise Martorano called to see if I knew of a North Dakota art gallery that would be willing to show a FEMA Exhibition. As luck would have it, I knew just the place: The Southwest Art Gallery + Science Center.
Your center, The Southwest Art Gallery and Science Center, serves as a community hub for art and science for the region. How do you hope this Climate Resiliency, Photography, and Storytelling exhibition will be engaged by visitors? What do you want your community to see with this show?
To me, art is more about raising questions instead of giving answers. So I hope people ask themselves questions about climate, our local environment, and their interaction with it.
Even the slightest acknowledgement could be a butterfly effect of positivity down the road. When people are aware that their actions have an impact both positively and negatively, perhaps there will be a shift towards positivity.
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“To me, art is more about raising questions instead of giving answers. So I hope people ask themselves questions about climate, our local environment, and their interaction with it.”
The partnership for this exhibition was possible because of your past artist residency at RedLine Contemporary Art Center. How do you use your experience at RedLine in your community through the Art Gallery and Science Center?
This is such a great question and I wish I could answer it wholly because RedLine’s impact can’t be fully measured.
I rely on my RedLine experiences everyday—whether it’s curating a gallery exhibition, organizing community classes and workshops, talking with fellow citizens, etc, etc.
RedLine taught me the importance of community. We’re all family, and are all going through our lives and doing the best we can. If the Southwest Art Gallery + Science Center can emulate RedLine by being a positive place to explore, create, and find yourself, everyone wins.
“RedLine taught me the importance of community. We’re all family, and are all going through our lives and doing the best we can. If the Southwest Art Gallery + Science Center can emulate RedLine by being a positive place to explore, create, and find yourself, everyone wins. ”
Seeing as this kind of digital interactive exhibition is new for your center, with new TV screens and projections, how do you hope the FEMA ArtWorks exhibition can be used as a catalyst for growth?
This type of exhibition had never been in Dickinson before, so the reactions have been both positive and humorous. People weren’t sure how to respond to video/projects, and were often unsure of where to stand and how to act in the gallery space.
These new experiences are so important to small town America like Dickinson. They promote personal and cultural growth within the community and helps bring citizens together who normally don’t interact while giving them glimpses of the outside world, showing that we are all more alike than we realize.
Southwest Art Gallery and Science Center is a unique and positive asset for a community like Dickinson. What lessons can other artists and community leaders learn from you and your center to bring positive change for their own communities?
It starts with an idea about filling a community need with passion behind it. Be organized and clear in your vision but be willing to adjust to the needs/wants of the community. Surround yourself with fun and energetic people who share your passion and want your ideas to succeed.
We are very lucky to have a talented and passionate board of directors who constantly strive forward with our goals and initiatives. Hear the nay-sayers, but don’t listen to them. This might sound confusing, but it’s simple: Use the negativity as a positive way to improve or secure your organization, but never believe the negativity.
It takes a lot of sacrifice for a non-profit organization to succeed, but it’s worth every second and every penny.
What’s next for Southwest Art Gallery and Science Center as you wind down the FEMA show?
The Southwest Art Gallery + Science Center just received a large $500k donation so after the FEMA exhibition we will begin renovating and updating elements in our gallery.
We also received a $40k grant to jump start our rural mobile outreach initiative called the STEAM Engine “Driving Creativity,” where we bring Science Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics to rural communities in SW North Dakota.
This is just the beginning. Lots of big things ahead for the Southwest Art Gallery + Science Center.
