Jim Sturdevant
Legion Lake (2024)
Oil on canvas
While small by comparison to other lakes in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Legion Lake rests among stunning granite walls. In this oil painting, my purpose is to figuratively transport the viewer to this 9-acre lake. Can you smell the ponderosa pines and feel the cool, light breeze? I want the viewer to get lost in the granite’s geometric shapes, bluish shades, and dancing light. Strong rock diagonals are echoed by the shapes of ponderosa pines bathed in early morning sunlight. Let’s rent a couple of kayaks from Legion Lake Lodge!
Sturdevant’s art transports viewers to a time and place. He hopes viewers can not only fully see, but almost smell, hear, and feel the environment. He hopes viewers stop, embrace, and appreciate uncommon beauty as well as iconic places. He captures scenes of our region, landmark by landmark and neighborhood by neighborhood. Sturdevant is influenced by Realists, like Sloan and Hopper, and Impressionists like Cezanne and Corot. His art was featured in a solo exhibition at the Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center in 2016. Sturdevant has drawn and painted throughout his life. He produced most of his pieces as commissions.
Born in Sioux Falls in 1955, Sturdevant has worked in the government, private, education, and non-profit sectors for over 41 years. He has an Ed.D. in Leadership from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN, a Masters Degree in Geography from Oklahoma State University in 1979, and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography, with an Art Minor, from South Dakota State University in 1978. He has taken several plein air oil painting workshops from Joe Paquet, St. Paul, MN.