Exhibitions
Current Exhibitions
Judy Thompson - Visual Art
My watercolor paintings explore the quiet beauty, layered histories, and complex nature of belonging in the Midwest. In Becoming Midwest: Life Between, I consider the experience of living within a landscape shaped by tradition, change, and cultural tension—what I describe as the “life between.”Through layered washes, bold linework, and symbolic forms, the work draws attention to connections within each composition as a metaphor for our relationship to land, community, and one another.
Installation Views
Kristin Gifford - Poetry
Kristin Gifford’s poetry reflects her upbringing in Northwest Iowa and explores the layered realities of rural Midwestern life. Her work engages themes of identity, womanhood, and cultural expectation, often through the perspective of a young girl observing her mother’s experience.Her poems also examine questions of race and belonging while holding a deep appreciation for the landscape alongside concern for its future. Through these perspectives, her writing captures the tension between rootedness and constraint, and the emotional complexity of place.Handmade paper for the poems was created by Julia Kuhns of Dancing Armadillos using recycled and natural materials, reinforcing the exhibition’s connection to place.
Kristin Gifford - Bio
Kristin Gifford is a poet whose work explores human transformation through the lens of Midwestern life. Her poetry has appeared in The Briar Cliff Review, Scrawl Place, The Oakwood Literary Journal, The Heimat Review, Willows Wept Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Sojourner’s. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and recipient of first place in poetry at the International Sigma Tau Delta Convention. She recently completed a full-length manuscript through the The Loft Literary Center Poetry Apprenticeship Program.
Judy Thompson - Bio
Judy Thompson is a watercolor artist whose work explores the landscapes and histories of the Great Plains. Originally from the Chicago area, she has lived in Northwest Iowa for over forty years.Her work has been shaped by residencies at Homestead National Historical Park and Badlands National Park. Her Homestead Series is part of the permanent collection of the National Park Service. She also created cover artwork for the Pioneer Girl series published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press.Her work is exhibited regionally and nationally and is held in public and private collections. She is a Signature Member of the Iowa Watercolor Society and an Associate Member of Women Artists of the West.
The Homestead Series
Exhibition History
The Homestead Series toured throughout the Midwest during the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act, with exhibitions at:
Collection
The Homestead Series is part of the permanent collection of the National Park Service and remains on view at Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska.
Connection
This series reflects my ongoing interest in place, memory, and the stories that shape our connection to the land—an exploration that continues in my later work.
Becoming Midwest: Life Between
Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
A collaborative exhibition of watercolor and poetry exploring place, identity, and the lived experience of the Midwest.
Renewal: Rest, Revive, Flourish, Glean, watercolor with charcoal, 2025
Judy Thompson - Visual Art
My watercolor paintings explore the quiet beauty, layered histories, and complex nature of belonging in the Midwest. In Becoming Midwest: Life Between, I consider the experience of living within a landscape shaped by tradition, change, and cultural tension—what I describe as the “life between.”Through layered washes, bold linework, and symbolic forms, the work draws attention to connections within each composition as a metaphor for our relationship to land, community, and one another.
Lay of the Land, watercolor with charcoal, 2024
Lone Tree, watercolor with charcoal, 2021
Landline Series: High Points, watercolor with charcoal, 2025
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Six Cowpokes, watercolor with wax resist, 2024
Survivor, watercolor with charcoal, 2024
Landline Series: Fencelines, watercolor with wax charcoal, 2025
Season's End, watercolor with charcoal, 2022
Flyover, watercolor with charcoal, 2025
Sojourners, watercolor, 2010
Last Light, watercolor with charcoal, 2024
The Locals, watercolor with charcoal, 2025
Installation Views
Installation View, Becoming Midwest: Life Between, Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
Installation View, Becoming Midwest: Life Between, Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
Installation View, Becoming Midwest: Life Between, Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
Installation View (detail), Becoming Midwest: Life Between, Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
Kristin Gifford - Poetry
Kristin Gifford’s poetry reflects her upbringing in Northwest Iowa and explores the layered realities of rural Midwestern life. Her work engages themes of identity, womanhood, and cultural expectation, often through the perspective of a young girl observing her mother’s experience.Her poems also examine questions of race and belonging while holding a deep appreciation for the landscape alongside concern for its future. Through these perspectives, her writing captures the tension between rootedness and constraint, and the emotional complexity of place.Handmade paper for the poems was created by Julia Kuhns of Dancing Armadillos using recycled and natural materials, reinforcing the exhibition’s connection to place.
Kristin Gifford - Bio
Kristin Gifford is a poet whose work explores human transformation through the lens of Midwestern life. Her poetry has appeared in The Briar Cliff Review, Scrawl Place, The Oakwood Literary Journal, The Heimat Review, Willows Wept Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, and Sojourner’s. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and recipient of first place in poetry at the International Sigma Tau Delta Convention. She recently completed a full-length manuscript through the The Loft Literary Center Poetry Apprenticeship Program.
Judy Thompson - Bio
Judy Thompson is a watercolor artist whose work explores the landscapes and histories of the Great Plains. Originally from the Chicago area, she has lived in Northwest Iowa for over forty years.Her work has been shaped by residencies at Homestead National Historical Park and Badlands National Park. Her Homestead Series is part of the permanent collection of the National Park Service. She also created cover artwork for the Pioneer Girl series published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press.Her work is exhibited regionally and nationally and is held in public and private collections. She is a Signature Member of the Iowa Watercolor Society and an Associate Member of Women Artists of the West.
Exhibition Details
- Medium: Watercolor and Poetry
- Venue: Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
- Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- February 20, 2025 - August 23, 2026
Connection
This exhibition extends my ongoing exploration of place, memory, and belonging, deepened here through a shared, intergenerational perspective.
Selected Exhibition / Earlier Work
The Homestead Series
Artist Residency, Homestead National Historical Park
A series of twelve watercolor paintings exploring land, legacy, and the human stories of the American homesteading experience.
Deep and Wide, watercolor with wax resist, 2011
Cover artwork, Nebraska Life Magazine
The prairie is America’s quintessential landscape. Its biography is thus our story in all its heartbreaking beauty, its mystery, its tragedy.
— FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER
Distant Harvest, watercolor, 2011
A Good Day's Work, watercolor, 2010
Plain Women, watercolor, 2010
Cottonwood Cows, watercolor, 2011
Prairie Schoolmates, watercolor, 2010
Trail's End, watercolor, 2010
Prairie Impressions, watercolor, 2010
Exhibition History
The Homestead Series toured throughout the Midwest during the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act, with exhibitions at:
- Great Plains Art Museum
- South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center
- Homestead National Historical Park
- Sioux City Public Museum
- Pearson Lakes Art Center
Collection
The Homestead Series is part of the permanent collection of the National Park Service and remains on view at Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska.
Connection
This series reflects my ongoing interest in place, memory, and the stories that shape our connection to the land—an exploration that continues in my later work.