North Dakota- Prairie

The mists’ of the long islands and Uig mysterious, Norse Chessmen whisper that I am Clan Morrison. Smells of ink and the grime of sketching recognize me as being an artist. The new great art state is North Dakota. They are obsessed with Buffalo. Thus the sentence Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo, North Dakota. If it were not for the Badlands, it would not have any of the Je ne sais quoi of artistic Wyoming. The state is wide open spaces of practically nothing except for grass. The other thing it is known for is how cold it gets there which is a real accomplishment. Recently North Dakota found oil and some of the most uninhabitable land in the continental North America became the most valuable. A good illustration of this is the series “Blood and Oil” with a mass migration to the state. Ironically North Dakota was the boring state in the region. I am from the traditional oil state Texas. While pumping oil defines the state, everything will equal out eventually. I have never been that good at chess.

North Dakota has a great mythology without lake monsters.Everything is on top of a traditional Sioux design.  They are one of the largest First Nations in the state. The left behind everything has Hoodoo Rock in the Badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National park. According to Lakota legend, the Badlands were caused by the Great Spirit flooding the world because they prayed too much about a warring tribe. The park is on the old sight of the first President Roosevelt’s ranch. The left behind everything  is the state house of North Dakota which I portrayed in modernist style. The original building was burned in 1930 but the current one was completed 2007 after all the expansions and is called Skyscraper on the Prairie. The pot is a Julia Matterson piece. She was one of the founders of the revival of Native American pottery adding a modern touch inspired by Prairie School Frank Lloyd Wright.  The flower is the wild prairie rose, the state flower. the branch is American elm, the state tree. The dwelling behind the rose is the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. This is the site where Lewis and Clark spent the winter 1804. It is 9” x 12,” drawn with pencil and white charcoal and completed September 2014.

The name of this piece is Gray stream Blue Snow, is 12” x 18” and drawn with ink, sumie and Chinese watercolors recently. The temperature was in the upper 30’s Fahrenheit which barly would allow forsnow iff it had not just snowed a foot and a half. The Chinese watercolors give a happy felling of snow. If you are interested in buying this or any other of my work email me at MatthewMorrison76@yahoo.com to order.