Reptile Garden Illustration Series

Exposure Gallery and Studios celebrated its fourth annual South Dakota Design Show led by owner, curator, and my husband, Zach DeBoer. Zach loves Sioux Falls more than anyone I’ve ever met, so when he opened his own gallery four years ago, he was determined to find a way to showcase his two passions: Sioux Falls and design. Thus the Design Sioux Falls/Greetings from South Dakota show series was born.

Debuting as Design Sioux Falls, the first three annual shows featured local graphic designers who were randomly assigned a Sioux Falls-related topic, event, business, or person to design a piece about. This year, Zach presented a bit of a twist and opened up the topics up to a statewide level, featuring places like the Corn Palace, Turner County Fair, and Cosmos Mystery Area. With this change, Design Sioux Falls became Greetings from South Dakota.

This year, my topic was Reptile Gardens, a local family park packed to the brim with exotic reptiles. As a Reptile Gardens fan, this project was an exciting one to create. I narrowed it down to three main illustrations:

• Methuselah– the renowned ancient tortoise

• Maniac–one of a few giant saltwater crocodiles in the known world, measuring nearly 16 feet long and roughly 1250 pounds

• Reptile Gardens famous three-level Sky Dome

I enjoyed this illustration style so much that I made made my daughter a custom series for her room after she was born in 2018. My favorite animal is the manatee, so I illustrated a family of manatees for her room, featured below. Sadly, Reptile Gardens does not have any manatees.