Now on view in the Sen. Adelstein & Lynda K. Clark Gallery, Woihanblapi gathers work by the nine original members of the Dream Catchers Artist Guild: Roger Broer, Donald F. Montileaux, R.G. Bowker, Arthur Amiotte, Richard Red Owl, Vic Runnels, Robert Freeman, Donald Ruleaux and Robert Penn. The exhibition opened Sept. 25 and remains at the Dahl through Jan. 16. It is the first stop for the traveling exhibition.

The guild was founded in 1983 by Indigenous artists working to create more opportunities, stronger markets and greater visibility for Native artists in the region. Its history stretches through several generations of Northern Plains art, and many of the names in the exhibition will already be familiar to Black Hills audiences. In 2025, the Dream Catchers Artist Guild received a South Dakota Governor’s Award in the Arts for Outstanding Support of the Arts to Native Nations with Lands in South Dakota.

There are two upcoming chances to catch the exhibition with additional programming. First Peoples Fund hosts a special Woihanblapi reception Thursday, Oct. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. An artist reception follows Sunday, Oct. 11 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Friday night: open mic and stand-up

Friday, Oct. 2 gives you two very different options inside the Dahl.

The EPA Open Mic runs from 6 to 8 p.m. through the Dahl’s Emerging Performing Artists program. Singers, musicians, poets, storytellers and other performers can take the mic, and the event is free and open to the public.

At 7 p.m., Chicago comedian Jayson Cross brings The Moral Dilemma Comedy Tour to the Dahl. Cross is a featured performer on the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour and works largely in observational stand-up drawn from his own experiences.

That makes Friday one of those unusual Dahl nights where you could walk in for an open mic and find a touring comedian performing elsewhere in the building

Saturday night, the art goes up for bid

The 7th Street Art Auction takes over the Dahl Saturday, Oct. 3 from 6 to 9:30 p.m.

The auction is a fundraiser for the Rapid City Arts Council, which manages the Dahl. Ticket sales and auction proceeds help pay for exhibitions, arts education, artist opportunities, public programming and continued access to the arts center.

There is another piece of art in play Saturday night that won’t be hanging around afterward if somebody gets lucky.

RCAC is raffling Salvador Dalí’s 1968 lithograph El Caballero (The Horseman) #90/125. The work entered the collection in 2014 and has since been approved for deaccession. Raffle tickets are $20, and the winner will be drawn during Saturday’s auction. Proceeds are designated for collection care and acquisitions as well as RCAC operations.

You do not need to be present to win the Dalí, although owning a Dalí because your $20 raffle ticket got pulled at the Dahl would be a pretty good Rapid City story.

Next up: Sophia Clarke builds a living map

The galleries change again next week.

Rapid City artist Sophia Clarke opens Living Map: What Grows When We Gather Friday, Oct. 9 with an interactive reception from 4 to 6 p.m. The work was commissioned in response to the Black Hills Area Community Foundation’s “Hopes for the Hills” call marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary.

Clarke’s installation uses painted silk panels alongside a topographic map of the Black Hills. Visitors will be able to add their own responses to questions about what has created hope here, what they have planted here and what they want to see grow in the region over the next 20 years. Those responses will accumulate on the map throughout the exhibition.

The exhibition runs into the winter, but the Oct. 9 opening is the point when that map starts filling up.

And Thursday starts the stretch

Before all of that, the Dahl also hosts 2026 Power of Peace Thursday, Oct. 1 from noon to 2 p.m. The third-party event marks the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness Month with lunch, a guest speaker and presentation of the Power of Peace Award.