Exhibitions
Current Exhibitions
Exhibition Details
As a mother–daughter collaboration, the exhibition reflects both shared and individual perspectives. Themes of migration and immigration, belonging and exclusion, and the complexities of rural life emerge throughout. Together, the paintings and poems invite viewers to consider what it means to live within the “in-between”—to navigate identity within a landscape that is both familiar and continually evolving.
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. This exhibition extends my ongoing exploration of place, memory, and belonging, deepened here through a shared, intergenerational perspective.
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
The Homestead Series was created during a 2010 artist residency at Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska. This body of work explores two central themes of the Homestead Movement: the transformation of native tallgrass prairie into cultivated farmland, and the enduring spirit of the individuals and families who settled the region through the Homestead Act of 1862.During the residency, I immersed myself in the landscape and history of the site—walking the prairie, sketching and photographing its natural forms, and researching archival materials both at the park and the Nebraska State Historical Society. Personal journals and firsthand accounts of early homesteaders became an important source of inspiration, offering insight into the daily lives, challenges, and hopes of those who shaped the land.The resulting series of twelve watercolor paintings reflects my impressions of this pivotal moment in American history, capturing both the physical transformation of the landscape and the human stories embedded within it.
Exhibition History
The Homestead Series toured throughout the Midwest during the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act and beyond, 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
Renewal: Rest, Revive, Flourish, Glean, watercolor with charcoal, 2025
Exhibition Details
- Title: Becoming Midwest: Life Between
- Medium: Watercolor and Poetry
- Number of Works: 35+ individual ppieces (paintings and poems)
- Venue: Washington Pavilion Visual Arts Center
- Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Dates: February 20, 2025 - August 23, 2026
- Accessibility: ADA-friendly; QR codes are included throughout the exhibition linking to video recordings of Kristin Gifford reading her poetry, allowing visitors to experience the work both visually and audibly.
- Collaboration: Mother–daughter duo, Judy Thompson (visual art) and Kristin Gifford (poetry)
As a mother–daughter collaboration, the exhibition reflects both shared and individual perspectives. Themes of migration and immigration, belonging and exclusion, and the complexities of rural life emerge throughout. Together, the paintings and poems invite viewers to consider what it means to live within the “in-between”—to navigate identity within a landscape that is both familiar and continually evolving.
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. This exhibition extends my ongoing exploration of place, memory, and belonging, deepened here through a shared, intergenerational perspective.
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
Installation View, 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.
Press
NW Iowa Review. Vol. 53 No 41. Saturday, April 11, 2027
Selected Exhibition / Earlier Work
The Homestead Series
Artist Residency, Homestead National Historical Park
Deep and Wide,watercolor with wax resist, 2011
Cover artwork, Nebraska Life Magazine
The Homestead Series was created during a 2010 artist residency at Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska. This body of work explores two central themes of the Homestead Movement: the transformation of native tallgrass prairie into cultivated farmland, and the enduring spirit of the individuals and families who settled the region through the Homestead Act of 1862.During the residency, I immersed myself in the landscape and history of the site—walking the prairie, sketching and photographing its natural forms, and researching archival materials both at the park and the Nebraska State Historical Society. Personal journals and firsthand accounts of early homesteaders became an important source of inspiration, offering insight into the daily lives, challenges, and hopes of those who shaped the land.The resulting series of twelve watercolor paintings reflects my impressions of this pivotal moment in American history, capturing both the physical transformation of the landscape and the human stories embedded within it.
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 and beyond, with exhibitions at:
- Great Plains Art Museum
- South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center
- Homestead National Historical Park
- Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art
- 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.