The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations (SDAHO) is excited to host the 2nd Annual Facility Art Contest at the upcoming 2025 Post-Acute Partners in Care Conference!
This year’s theme, “Seasons of Change,” has inspired creativity and connection across participating facilities. We’re thrilled to have 15 contestants showcasing their incredible talent and artistic interpretations of this theme.
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the Activity Directors, residents, and staff who contributed their time and creativity. Your support has helped bring this fun and meaningful event to life—we couldn’t have done without you!
Participating Facilities:
Kadoka Nursing Home: “Well Seasoned Residents” | This fun submission puts a fun tasteful spin on “season”, showcasing each resident as a creative spice or herb jar. 31 residents are showcased giving a personal and joyful interpretation on this year’s theme.
Dow Rummel Village: “Sunflowers” | This entry uses a native flower to North America, seen in fields in certain parts of South Dakota. This sunflower is a symbol of enlightenment, spiritual awaking and personal growth. These attributes guided the theme behind Dow Rummel’s submission, that uses reclaimed wood for the frame, with the residents of all levels of the care facility helping with the painting of the images. The canvas showcases a vast prairie sky with a beautiful field of sunflowers emerging from the canvas.
Edgewood Vista: “Dance of the Seasons” | A Glorious Dance. Choreographed by Nature, Celebrating the Cycle of Life and Time. This year, Edgewood Vista looks at the different seasons highlighting Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Through beautiful individual designs, this submission showcases each season through the art created by residents.
Wakonda Heritage Manor: “Window of Seasons” | Wakonda Heritage Nursing Home residents created a stained glass focusing on the four seasons, with the images painted by the residents. The four seasons are made using the resident’s footprints for the trunk and the tree and their fingerprints to create the change of the seasons. The residents created this to incorporate their interpretation of this yea’s art contest theme.
Parkview Assisted Living: Ecclesiastes Diamond Art Pictures | This was created using original pictures of residents submitted to Amazon to send in a Diamond Art Kit format. The residents had to complete the entire picture diamond by diamond.
Scotchman Living Center: Seasons of Life | This free-standing life-size art submission focuses on each season, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, while also focusing on the months that fall within those seasons. The artists use images framed on fabric to showcase residents enjoying certain activities associated with that month, while also placing specific items used to enjoy seasonal activities. This submission focuses on the many things associated with the seasons of one’s life.
Avera Brady Health and Rehab: Branches of Time | This collaborative artwork is created with the hands and hearts of the nursing home residents. It embodies the journey of life through the changing seasons from a twisted wire tree. Each color represents a season with hanging ornaments that bring these stages to life, with each piece holding a personal meaning and memory for a resident.
Weskota Manor Avera | This Tree of Life artwork features the residents as its vibrant leaves—each one a unique and vital part of the whole. Every resident is pictured holding images representing different stages of their own life journey, beautifully illustrating the seasons of life and the changes that come with them. Together, these individual stories create a powerful visual narrative of growth, transformation, and connection.
Silverleaf Assisted Living | This unique interpretation captures the four transformative stages a tree experiences as it journeys through the seasons. Featuring four central images—Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter—the piece not only reflects nature’s changes but also mirrors human experience.
Accompanying these seasonal depictions are images of the residents, beginning with their early years as children, moving through adulthood, and culminating in Winter, where no further images remain. This poignant choice invites reflection, symbolizing the quiet stillness at the end of life’s journey.
A deeply moving piece encourages viewers to pause, reflect, and appreciate the beauty found in every season of life.
Avera Maryhouse: “Seasons” | Using the theme “Seasons of Change,” the residents of St. Mary’s beautifully showcase the many transitions experienced throughout a lifetime. This heartfelt project highlights personal memories through photographs that reflect family moments, career paths, and beloved hobbies—each image capturing a different chapter of life. Together, they emphasize the universal journey of change we all experience as we move through the many seasons of life.
Sunset Manor Avera | This colorful art piece beautifully illustrates the journey of aging and the transitions we all experience throughout life. Set against vibrant seasonal backgrounds, each scene is brought to life using striking black silhouette images that tell a universal story.
The journey begins in Spring, with children at play, full of energy and promise. It then moves into Summer, where young adults fall in love and begin new lives together. Fall captures the essence of growing families, full of warmth and activity. Finally, the piece transitions into Winter, symbolizing the golden years—peaceful, reflective, and full of wisdom.
This visual narrative reminds us of the beauty and inevitability of change, as we each move through the ever-shifting seasons of life.
Trail Ridge Senior Living Community: “Seasons of Life” | This unique submission centers on a single tree as it transforms through the changing seasons, each stage accompanied by the birds that are most often seen during that time of year. This colorful painting captures a robin in the spring, woodpeckers in the summer, and a vibrant mix of blue jays, finches, and cardinals in the cooler months.
A beautiful and inspiring piece, it seamlessly blends nature and artistry—sure to captivate both bird lovers and art enthusiasts alike.
Avera Prince of Peace: “Life’s Tapestry” | Residents of Avera Prince of Peace’s Retirement Community created this quilted tapestry to showcase the journey of life, represented by the changing seasons and the growth and beauty throughout life’s journey. A variety of textures and techniques used represent the mixture of experiences and individuals throughout their lives that all come together to create a unique and beautiful quilted masterpiece.
Edgewood Prairie Crossings Watertown | This creative and colorful art piece brings the “Seasons of Change” to life through a rich blend of textures and vibrant paintings. Each season—Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall—is thoughtfully represented, with the residents who contributed to the project featured within each section, making this a true community collaboration.
At the base of each seasonal panel, meaningful details evoke the essence of that time of year—snowflakes for winter, blooming flowers for spring, ducks on a summer pond, and falling autumn leaves. Together, these elements create a visually engaging and heartfelt celebration of both the seasons and the people who brought this artwork to life.
Avera Sister James Care Center | This unique and colorful interpretation of the “Seasons of Change” uses puzzle pieces as a powerful symbol of connection and individuality. At the heart of the piece stands a single figure, representing the “tree of life,” with each leaf crafted from puzzle pieces painted in seasonal colors—green for spring, bright tones for summer, warm hues for fall, and cool shades for winter.
Created by resident artists, this piece beautifully reflects how the changing seasons leave their mark on us all, while highlighting the idea that every individual is a vital part of the larger picture.
Thank you to all who participated in this year’s Facility Art Contest. Each submission is amazing and worth lifting up. Your hard work, dedication and passion put toward each projects is a testament to the care and commitment you all have to your residents, your facility and community.
