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  MKC Books

The Prairie Is My Garden

2/19/2012

6 Comments

 
Picture
In Dead White, I mention that a copy of Harvey Dunn's The Prairie Is My Garden hangs on the kitchen wall at 22 Okerlund Road. And probably in many other places in the Dakotas.
 

Harvey Dunn was born near Manchester, South Dakota, in 1884. He attended what was to become South Dakota State University, where he was encouraged by an enthusiastic teacher to enroll in the Chicago Art Institute. He eventually settled in New Jersey, becoming a successful illustrator and teacher.

His prairie works, which are primarily what he is now known for, were done later in his life, long after he left the prairie of his birth. He didn't display them publicly until 1950 at an exhibit in De Smet, South Dakota. The response was gratifying enough that he decided to donate the paintings to the state of South Dakota.

The original painting of The Prairie Is My Garden is now housed at the South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, along with many others of Dunn's best known works.

One of my favorite quotes of Dunn's: "Paint a little less of the facts and a little more of the spirit."

6 Comments
Deborah
6/2/2012 10:30:57 pm

By the time I looked at this item on your blog, I had forgotten about the painting. Thank you, for bringing me back to it. I know so much more about your Dakota than before I read your book, and about lots of things, including the diaspora. I will read another Dakota Mystery as soon as I leave this message. I wish we could chat face to face, but I love your intense sense of personal privacy. You seem to me to be not so much a "rule breaker" as a "setter of one's own rules." Well done.

Reply
M.K. Coker
6/2/2012 11:10:00 pm

Deborah, thanks for your comment. You've just given me an idea for a new blog post about the Dakota Diaspora.

I have tried to think of things that I could talk about on my blog that focus on the books or Dakota, rather than myself, as my life has very little plot. ;-)

I am, as you so cannily deduced, an intensely private person. As Dead White is my first book, I am still finding the right balance between my privacy and public curiosity. If you want to chat on email, just use the contact form; I enjoy hearing from my readers.

And if you're looking for another book in my series...you'll have to wait until I finish writing it!

Reply
Deborah
6/4/2012 05:55:21 am

Thought I saw "Dakota" and "series" together...I do hope you will write another, or some others. Thanks.

Reply
M.K. Coker
6/4/2012 10:07:52 am

Yes, Dead White is the first in the Dakota Mystery series. I'm working on the second and I have ideas for several more.

If you'd like to be notified by email when Dead Dreams comes out, you can let me know through my contact page here on the website. (Or if you just want to chat, I'll send a reply with my email address. I just didn't want to put up on the website for the bots to pick up.)

Dead Dreams should be out in 2012 but probably more toward the end of the year. I had some health issues this past year that threw me off schedule or it would be out this summer.

Reply
Deborah
6/4/2012 10:22:42 am

I'd love a little chat, but I don't know how to get to you except thought this form. I'm a little tech challenged I guess. Thanks for the asking, maybe you could email me directly? I'm glad you are better, and would appreciate being notified when Dead Dreams is out. Thanks.

M.K. Coker
6/4/2012 11:02:45 am

Deborah, if you go to the very top of my webpage there are several tabs (Home, Books, Bio, Blog, Contact, FAQ). Click on Contact. It'll bring up a form to fill out with your name, email address, and a comment section. When you're done filling it out, just hit the Submit button. That will send it to my email address and I can then reply to you privately.

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    M.K. Coker

    Author of the Dakota Mystery Series.

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