Hi and welcome to all Journal readers and art enthusiasts.  My name is Don Jones and I would like to invite your comments on your art concerns here in Rapid City or surrounding area.  My expertise is clay and drawing but I am currently painting oils.  I also teach at the Dahl Art Center.  I am fairly new to the area, having moved here in 2006 from New Mexico.  I do know many of the local art teachers in the schools and artists in the community and I invite them to post comments as well.I would like to invite all of you who have any interest in clay to visit the new facility at the Dahl Art Center.  They have 10 electric wheels, a new slab roller, 2 new kilns, tables, cabinetry and plenty of space to splash clay around in.  This marvelous facility is not being used to its potential, so I hope to have many of you sign up for classes.

This blog aims to interweave thoughts about visual art, politics, life, lives of artists, reactions to art in the community from both artists and art patrons, insights from artists into their studio practices, new events and the business of art into thoughtful discussions.
Our goal is to connect visual artists to people interested in art, to increase awareness of the business and economics of art and to create a community interested in discussing, participating in and supporting art in the community.

This blog is made possible by the Visual Art Advisory Board of the Dahl Arts Center (http://www.thedahl.org/arts_council_at_the_dahl.htm ) and the Rapid City Journal.
— Linda Anderson,
executive director of the Rapid City Arts Council
Dahl Arts Center