‘We are All Weeds: Susan Heggestad’ on Display at Augustana’s Eide/Dalrymple Gallery

Pictured: Susan Heggestad, "Never Again Means Never Again," Collagraph and cotton thread embroidered on cotton paper, 2024.

The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery at Augustana University opens "We are All Weeds: Susan Heggestad," which will be on view from Friday, Nov. 15, through Thursday, Dec.12. A gallery reception will be held from 7-9 p.m. on Nov. 15, with a talk by the artist at 7:30 p.m.

"We are All Weeds" is an exhibition of printmaking, mixed-media artwork and installation by Heggestad. Her work incorporates cast paper, found furniture, natural materials, stitching, beading and other mixed-media techniques. In this body of work, Heggestad bases her imagery on plants, which "become a stand-in for 'us' and the ways in which we envision the world - typically, centering only ourselves." Plants are rich in symbolism, along with their associative terms, such as weed, seed and growth. "Is a weed a noxious intruder to be eradicated, or simply a mysterious stranger we've yet to become acquainted with? Are they 'us,' or 'them'? 'Inside' or 'outside'?"

"Plants urgently need to become the focus of our modern myths," said Heggestad. "These works are my attempt at re-propagating mythic stories about our place in the world. Composting poison into medicine. My hope is that we learn what we need to from the world around us, before we succeed in eradicating it, and ourselves."

Heggestad has been a long-serving and very active member of the Vermillion, South Dakota, and greater arts community. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in printmaking from the University of South Dakota and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in printmaking from the University at Buffalo - SUNY in Buffalo, New York, and later completed a Clinical Practice Intensive in Arts in Healthc are from the University at Buffalo. She has taught a range of courses at the university level and for the broader community. In addition to being the founder of the Messy Hands Summer Art Camp in Vermillion, she is the president of the Vermillion Cultural Association.

Heggestad has had several solo and group exhibitions throughout the region. Her work has been selected several times for the touring South Dakota Governor's Biennial. National juried exhibitions include those for the Monotype Guild of New England and the Mid America Print Council. She has held artist residencies at Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass Village, Colorado), The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center (Nebraska City, Nebraska) and Penland School of Craft (Bakersville, North Carolina). Heggestad has received individual artist and project grants from the South Dakota Arts Council (2021, 2011, 2007) and her work has been collected in the print archives of Iowa State University, Racine Art Museum, Ohio University, University of Texas at Austin, Louisiana State University and University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as well as numerous private collections.

Works in this exhibition were created with the support of grants from the South Dakota Arts Council.

About the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery

As a part of Augustana University, the mission of the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is to contribute to the educational and cultural vitality of the university, surrounding community and state of South Dakota. The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery inspires the artists of today and tomorrow, and serves as a resource for teaching and promoting life-long learning through its permanent collection and temporary exhibition program with accompanying artist visits, gallery talks and educational materials.

The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is named after Palmer Eide and Ogden Dalrymple, pioneering Augustana professors emeriti of art. Many of their collaborative works are spread throughout the campus.

The Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is located at 30th Street and Grange Avenue, in the Center for Visual Arts at Augustana. The gallery is open to the public and free of charge. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Saturdays, from 1-4 p.m.