VERMILLION, SD.- University Art Galleries at the University of South Dakota are hosting the exhibition, “Dust, Metal, and Stone: The Graphic Arts of the 1930s” at the John A. Day Gallery. “Dust, Metal, and Stone: The Graphic Arts of the 1930s” includes 60 original lithographic and intaglio prints created by noted artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry. The exhibition runs through Friday, Sept. 20 with a reception scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13 in the Day Gallery.

The prints in “Dust, Metal, and Stone” are a small selection from the University Art Galleries permanent collection of more than 300 signed prints from the era. The prints originated from the company, Associated American Artists, which was created in 1934 by Reeves Lewenthal who sought to democratize fine art through the sale of affordable original prints by renowned American artists. The works in “Dust, Metal, and Stone” reflect the well-known realist and regionalist artworks of the New Deal era. Popular themes in the prints explore agrarian life and labor during the Great Depression.

University Art Galleries received a Special Project Grant from the South Dakota Arts Council to produce the exhibition. South Dakota Arts Council support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota through the Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts. “Dust, Metal, and Stone” was co-curated by Alison Erazmus, Director of the UAG, and Jennifer Padgett, a MFA candidate in printmaking.

Located in the Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts on the USD campus, the John A Day Gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Founded in 1862, The University of South Dakota is designated as the only public liberal arts university in the state and is home to a comprehensive College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, the state's only School of Law, School of Medicine, the accredited Beacom School of Business and the College of Fine Arts. It has an enrollment of more than 10,200 students taught by more than 400 faculty members.