Sculptures R Us

About 40 minutes west of Sioux Falls, right off of I90, is the most amazing Porter Sculpture Park. The Sculpture Park sits on 10 acres. You have to cross a couple of cattle guards to get to it and sometimes, as I did, you have to wait for the cattle to clear the road before you can pass.

Wayne Porter has never taken an art class. He learned basic blacksmithing from his father and any art skills he has are entirely self-taught. He also loves dogs and Miko was allowed to run free through the park. There are over 50 sculptures here and I took a zillion pictures. Following are the pictures of the sculptures that really grabbed and/or amused either Miko or me.

Perhaps not the most flattering picture of Miko

That road is I90 so you can see how close the interstate is

These guys were about 12 feet tall and sort of creepy cool

Scattered thru the property were Wayne's poems

The centerpiece of the park was the Bull's Head.  The Bull's Head was 60 feet tall which is as tall as the Mount Rushmore heads.  It is massive and took Wayne three years to make.

You can walk inside the Bull's Head and after dodging all the rubber hanging spiders, coiled snakes and sleeping bats, you look up and see this:

Creeped me out big time but also made me laugh.  Very very cool.

After exploring the sculpture park, I continued on my way to the next piece of sculpture that I had really been looking forward to.  This sculpture is called Dignity and was in, of all places,  the Chamberlain, SD rest stop overlooking the Missouri River.  It is 50 feet tall was put in place in 2016.  The artist is Dale Claude Lamphere.  I have to say, although it is a lovely sculpture and impressive in it's own right, after going thru the Porter Sculpture Park, Dignity seemed a little sterile.  

I visited the Atka-Lakota Museum, which had a Wounded Knee exhibit. There was also a lot of beaded articles- clothes, weapons, horse tack.  Those Sioux must have had incredible eyesight because the beadwork was so intricate and tiny.  I had thought I had heard that Sioux was not a PC term anymore, but evidently it is.  I  learned that Sioux is sort of an umbrella term and that there are three different bands - the Lakota, the Dakota and the Nokota.


I found a place to camp that was right on the Missouri River.  It was actually a boat ramp and best of all, it was free.  The waves were big and Miko had a blast trying to catch them all.

View out my door