Don't Doubt Your Horses is a participatory art project that encourages you to unharness your creative spirit by making horses.
HOW TO SHARE YOUR HORSE
Please draw a horse. Postcard size is good. If you don't draw much, then PLEASE draw a horse!
Here are some ways to share your horse:
Please draw a horse. Postcard size is good. If you don't draw much, then PLEASE draw a horse!
Here are some ways to share your horse:
- Instagram or Facebook: I can find and share your horse if you mention @dontdoubtyourhorses
- mail: 500 8th Street, Walnut Grove MN 56180, USA. I'll post your horse on the Instagram gallery as time and grace allows, so if you don't want that to happen be sure and let me know that your drawing is For Dan's Eyes Only
- email: dontdoubtyourhorses at gmail dot com (and if you want your horse hidden away, tell me it's For Dan's Eyes Only)
- text: Instead of a phone number, simply enter the email address: dontdoubtyourhorses at gmail dot com. If you have an iPhone you might need to Google for details on how to jump through a hoop or two the first time you try it.
ABOUT, IN DETAIL
Most Recent Exhibition
2024 - Worthington, Minnesota - Nobles County Art Center & Nobles County Library
It's so awesome when organizations join hands for the first time in a public participatory art adventure! Thank you so much, art center and library directors, for making this happen.
The drawing corral and some repros from the exhibit were easily accessible to all library visitors, and the main part where guest horses joined 400 of my original drawings ran in the art center, January 7-February 27, 2024.
It's so awesome when organizations join hands for the first time in a public participatory art adventure! Thank you so much, art center and library directors, for making this happen.
The drawing corral and some repros from the exhibit were easily accessible to all library visitors, and the main part where guest horses joined 400 of my original drawings ran in the art center, January 7-February 27, 2024.
Artists Dan Wahl and Benjamin Green Wahl assemble the drawing corral at the Nobles County Library.
Ben draws one of the first horses for the exhibition.
Theater and audio/visual artist Bill Richards shares a horse-related vision in the Nobles County Art Center.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to our 2024 exhibitions sponsor, Western Print Group of Marshall, Minnesota.
A Few of the Past Exhibitions
SPRINGBOARD EXHIBITION
2022 - St. Paul, Minnesota - Springboard for the Arts
Horses in the city! An outdoor, open 24-7 exhibition at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota, ran from July 28 to October 15 in the summer of 2022.
2022 - St. Paul, Minnesota - Springboard for the Arts
Horses in the city! An outdoor, open 24-7 exhibition at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota, ran from July 28 to October 15 in the summer of 2022.
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Night view of 400 horse drawings prancing in the wind like prayer flags.
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The light rail train was a regular sight.
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A special drawing corral was built using real barn gates. River helped.
People who don't want everyone to see their horse can share it in a special box provided at every exhibition.
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The drawing corral at night. Sometimes people without homes liked to come here and spend some quiet, undisturbed time looking at art.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to the stellar and supportive folks at Springboard for the Arts! Special thanks go to helpers, guides, and coordinators, particularly Peter Haakon Thompson and Al Valdovinos.
LIBRARY EXHIBITION
2022 - Marshall, Minnesota - Marshall-Lyon County Library
Horses in the library! Who'd have thought? The exhibition went from July 9 to August 27, 2022 at the Marshall-Lyon County Library in Marshall, Minnesota.
2022 - Marshall, Minnesota - Marshall-Lyon County Library
Horses in the library! Who'd have thought? The exhibition went from July 9 to August 27, 2022 at the Marshall-Lyon County Library in Marshall, Minnesota.
MASTERS SOCIAL HALL EXHIBITION
2021 - Walnut Grove, Minnesota - Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum
Don't Doubt Your Horses showed at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, from April Fools' Day to Halloween, 2021.
Gallery guests were invited to draw horses on postcards. The drawings were then scanned, posted on social media, and physically added to the exhibition.
An amazing 3,347 colorful guest drawings joined the artist's original 400 black and white ones.
2021 - Walnut Grove, Minnesota - Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum
Don't Doubt Your Horses showed at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, from April Fools' Day to Halloween, 2021.
Gallery guests were invited to draw horses on postcards. The drawings were then scanned, posted on social media, and physically added to the exhibition.
An amazing 3,347 colorful guest drawings joined the artist's original 400 black and white ones.
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Horse drawings by guest artist Neva Rose, on the front and back of a card used for inviting people to draw.
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Although most of the drawings were made by kids, many adults also interacted with the exhibition.
Artist Dan Wahl talks about the conceptual development and evolution of the Don't Doubt Your Horses Project. [photograph by John G. White]
Virtual gallery walkthrough and ambient soundscape by video artist Bill Richards of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. He created the walk-through before gallery guests began drawing horses of their own. The actor is Heidi Morgan who is a regular in Walnut Grove's Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant.
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Horses in the form of drawings stabled in the Masters Store & Hall on the second floor, which served the community as a social hall once upon a time. The Masters Store & Hall was built with the help of Charles "Pa" Ingalls. Laura Ingalls Wilder worked in the downstairs store area for a time when she was a girl.
Gradually, the old social hall became festooned with horse drawings.
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Some of the 3,347 horse drawings by guest artists in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
Acknowledgments
The two physical exhibitions at the Masters Social Hall and the Marshall-Lyon County Library were made possible by a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council with funds appropriated by the McKnight Foundation. This website, a virtual exhibition, and the social media aspects of the project were made possible by an MSAB grant, acknowledged as follows: "Dan Wahl is a fiscal year 2021 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund." Minnesota voters really rocked it with the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment!
Historical Research Paper - FREE to download and use
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"Don't Doubt Your Horses and the Masters Store & Hall" talks about the intersection of this public participatory art project and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum's restoration of the Masters Social Hall. The historical paper is free for you to read or republish in part or whole under a Creative Commons attribution license (CC-BY). Credit "Dan Wahl, dontdoubtyourhorses.com"
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Artist Statement |
Don’t Doubt Your Horses is a public participatory exhibit that includes your drawings with mine. I became conscious of its development in 2015, beginning with the 400 Horses Project.
Born from a desire to understand the equine body structure, the 400 Horses Project was initially a drawing exercise. I set out to create 400 horse drawings from January 1 to December 31. All was going well until I got blocked a few months into the project. I journaled and meditated and drew my way through the artist’s block. Then came a truly unexpected idea. I discovered that the project was not about making horse drawings. It was about liking the horse drawings.
If the project was to be completed at all, I would have to accept all the horses. This was much easier said than done.
The shift of focus from the act of drawing to the act of liking necessitated a deeper appreciation for the horses themselves. In order to accept them I had to let them be who they were. Who they are.
This approach to the project began raising essential questions about standards and aesthetics. What is “bad art”? What drawings would artists hide in their sketchbooks? What horses would be crumpled up and thrown away? In the end, it seemed right to include every single drawing in one exhibition.
The phrase “Don’t Doubt Your Horses” traveled along with some of the more adventuresome horses who were harder to like. I repeated the phrase to myself. Without that mantra some of these horses might never have come into being.
BIO
I'm a public participatory artist, visual artist, and writer from the prairie land of southwest Minnesota. For many years I've been asking friends, acquaintances, and strangers, “Could you please draw me a horse?”
GRATITUDE
Many many kind and generous people helped make the physical and virtual exhibitions happen. The list is easily topped by my friend and spouse Sara.
Born from a desire to understand the equine body structure, the 400 Horses Project was initially a drawing exercise. I set out to create 400 horse drawings from January 1 to December 31. All was going well until I got blocked a few months into the project. I journaled and meditated and drew my way through the artist’s block. Then came a truly unexpected idea. I discovered that the project was not about making horse drawings. It was about liking the horse drawings.
If the project was to be completed at all, I would have to accept all the horses. This was much easier said than done.
The shift of focus from the act of drawing to the act of liking necessitated a deeper appreciation for the horses themselves. In order to accept them I had to let them be who they were. Who they are.
This approach to the project began raising essential questions about standards and aesthetics. What is “bad art”? What drawings would artists hide in their sketchbooks? What horses would be crumpled up and thrown away? In the end, it seemed right to include every single drawing in one exhibition.
The phrase “Don’t Doubt Your Horses” traveled along with some of the more adventuresome horses who were harder to like. I repeated the phrase to myself. Without that mantra some of these horses might never have come into being.
BIO
I'm a public participatory artist, visual artist, and writer from the prairie land of southwest Minnesota. For many years I've been asking friends, acquaintances, and strangers, “Could you please draw me a horse?”
GRATITUDE
Many many kind and generous people helped make the physical and virtual exhibitions happen. The list is easily topped by my friend and spouse Sara.
- Thank YOU for braving to draw a horse.
- Thank you to artists everywhere who make themselves known, even if only for a few moments.
- I bow my head and give thanks to a Creator who made us to love, to give, and to create.
- I thank the people who hold the prairie land in their hearts.
- I thank the people, past and present, on whose lands we meet. I thank them for the care of the land. I recognize their continuing connection to the land, waters, and community.
A History of Don't Doubt Your Horses
- 1971 - Rode a horse at age 6.
- 197? - Got scared of horses after a fall.
- 2003 - Presented "Cave Horses," a painting exhibition at The Coffee Hag in Mankato, Minnesota, that invited people to draw horses.
- 2007 - Using journal material, wrote the first draft of an essay about fear entitled "Don't Doubt Your Horses."
- 2015 - Completed the 400 Horses Project, a self-directed study that entailed creating 400 horse drawings in one year. Became conscious of broader applications in service to others. Began developing exhibition concepts related to the experience.
- 2016 - Showed a piece in a juried exhibition which consisted of a 4'x4' print of the 400 horse drawings along with the originals sealed in a black wooden box.
- 2019 - Using reproductions, presented a prototype exhibition called the Don’t Doubt Your Horses Prairie Walk as part of the Hinterland Art Crawl.
- 2020 - Unsealed the black box and presented "Don't Doubt Your Horses," an exhibition of 400 original drawings along with ones made by Pearson Lakes Art Center gallery visitors.
- 2020-2021 - Presented a version as part of "Inner Selfie, Outer Selfie," a duo exhibition with Krystl Louwagie at the Hutchinson Center for the Arts. Among the exhibition were a horse drawing kiosk, a shrouded assemblage of horse drawings by others, and open boxes containing 30+ years of journals.
- 2021 - Presented "Don't Doubt Your Horses" in the historic and barnlike Masters Social Hall being renovated by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
- 2022 - Presented the exhibition at the Marshall-Lyon County Library, working in partnership with the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council.
- 2022 - Created a horse drawing corral. Presented the first urban exhibition at Springboard for the Arts in St. Paul.
- 2024 - Helped a second library and art center partnership form in Worthington, Minnesota, with the exhibition showing in both locations simultaneously.
- 2024 - Completed the final draft of "Don't Doubt Your Horses," which includes journal material from the past 30 years.
- 2024 - Embarked on the Timeline Project, renewed the Ursa Project, and became startlingly aware that these projects are intertwined with the Don't Doubt Your Horses Project.
Check out a visualization of the artist's ongoing love of interactive and public participatory art. I love the video of impromptu tour guides Savanna and Rocky at the Pearson Lakes Art Center exhibition.