Rapid River Gallery

About

Rapid River Gallery focuses on Historical/Western art.

Story

It began with an oil painting.

Pat Roseland wasn’t terribly interested in art until the day he saw a large oil painting of Sitting Bull, looking strong and determined, with what he sees as a meek Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer in the background.

“That spoke to me,” he said. “I saw that there, and I had to have it.”

Some nine years later, that one painting has grown to a collection of about 300 pieces of Western and Rapid City-related artwork that Roseland describes as “basically the history of art in Rapid City from the 1880s until today.”

Nearly every wall in Roseland’s 1917 Craftsman bungalow showcases a piece or two, from the watercolor scene by a contemporary of early Rapid City artist Grace French to more contemporary chalk works by Patrick Elk Boy.

“I’m really out of room in my house,” said Roseland, who’s chairman of the Rapid City Historic Preservation Commission. “And it comes to a point where you want to share this stuff, and why keep it hidden?”

It won’t be hidden much longer. By summer, Roseland hopes to open Rapid River Gallery on the main floor of the building he’s restoring at 910 Main St. He plans a revolving display of his art, as well as items from his collection of commercial memorabilia from Rapid City businesses dating back to the 1880s.

The gallery will also show and sell works by local artists, Roseland said.

The two additional commercial bays in the building are already spoken for. Barb and Patrick Paur will move PAWS pet bakery and bird store to the east end of the building, next to Bully Blends, and Kim Oslund — formerly of Smatterings — will open a yarn/framing/antique shop in the space next to PAWS, Roseland said.

Roseland doesn’t plan to sell the pieces in his own art collection — at least not initially.

“In the end I may,” he said. “I don’t think any of my family wants any of it. … We’ll see what happens.”

For the building's neighbors, the recent activity at 910 Main is a welcome sight.

"We are thrilled to pieces," said Aida Compton, who along with husband Pete opened Bully Blends at 908 Main St. in 2010. "Having the front of (Pat's) building upgraded to modern standards is going to be a huge boost to us down here."

Compton expects more block improvements to follow. "I think this is where the action's going to take place for the next couple of years, really," she said. "We're really excited."

Roseland had no idea when he bought the property in 2007 that it would take so long to revive it. But the building, which dates back to 1936 and includes several additions, was in worse shape than he initially thought.

Over the years, 910 Main has been home to the White Elephant second-hand store, Rapid Electric, a flooring business and a vacuum business before becoming an X-rated movie theater and adult bookstore in 1974. The theater closed in the 1980s and sat empty, although the bookstore section remained open until the mid-2000s.

There were apartments upstairs but those, too, fell into disrepair over time.

“When I bought it, the upstairs was full of pigeons,” dead and live, Roseland said. Feral cats were living in the abandoned main floor. “I still bought it.”

Roseland initially considered making the entire downstairs a gallery and the upstairs his apartment, but he soon realized that wasn’t financially feasible. A second plan to sell the building to a California-based night club developer also fell through, and the gutted structure sat empty for years.

A few months ago, the ball started rolling again when Roseland — who works as a nurse anesthetist — was finally able to secure financing for the renovation project. Now rotted floors and warped ceiling beams have been replaced. Construction crews expect to have the downstairs commercial spaces finished in March, Roseland said.

They'll then start work on three upstairs apartments, each of which will have its own heated garage off the alley. The two apartments in front will have balconies overlooking Main Street. Roseland plans to move into the apartment at the rear of the building, which will have a back deck.

He says he's not sorry to move from the West Boulevard-area home where he's lived for almost 20 years. There's a lot going on downtown these days, Roseland noted. "I want to be part of it."

Given the chance to do it over, though, and knowing what challenges the project has posed, would he still buy the building?

“Yeah, because I’m that way,” Roseland said with a smile. “I never want to be comfortable. I’ve always got to be on the edge.”


-excerpt from Rapid City Journal