“Against the Current” art piece has a temporary new home in Spearfish

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - “Against the Current” was a piece created by Dick Termes for the South Dakota State Historical Society. This piece will be loaned to the center while renovations take place at the state.

The piece was created in 2003 about the journey of Lewis and Clark going along the Missouri River. Termes depicted in his artwork the animals, Native Americans, and land formations they ran into on their way to the Pacific Ocean.

“This was a painting that I did of that whole trip and when I did it, I was trying to figure out how do you map a whole river, a whole stream all the way through. Finally, I came up with the spiral, so I start on the bottom of the sphere is St. Louis, and it spirals all the way up to the top to the Pacific Ocean,” said Termes.

Termes is an artist raised in Spearfish. He believes his love for art stemmed from his parents. His father was a carpenter and built around 30 houses by himself in Spearfish, most of which are still standing today. His mother was also involved and would decorate the insides. Throughout high school he said he lived in about 18 different of these houses that were fixed by his family.

In middle school he found his love for art.

“I think it was probably seventh grade when I really started realizing that I actually could express myself. You know because I think one of the hard things like any kid is how to express oneself, so people know what you’re thinking and wanting other people to know about,” said Termes.

When Termes became a junior in high school he started to use paint more in his work.

“I’m actually painting a window that I can put any world in that window that I want to, anything can be going on in that space. As soon as I understand how to draw well enough and how to be able to transfer ideas out of my head onto the canvas, that’s what turned me on,” said Termes.

Later down the line he went back to graduate school in Wyoming. One thing he says he kept running into was he wanted more visual space. In 1968, he was able to see the world from a six-point perspective system and started drawing on Spheres.

“When you put it on a sphere, and you turn it all inside out and put it on the outside of a sphere what you would see if you’re inside you can get all of that.” said Termes.

Now he has a studio just outside of Spearfish called Termesphere studios. Although his artwork is displayed all over the World this is where you can find most of his work in his sphere-shaped studio.

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