The sixth installment of this series is called "Gotta Practice First" and was created by Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby. This sculpture is made of bronze and can be found in front of F&M Bank. Leuning and Treeby are a duo from Aberdeen, South Dakota. They have created multiple pieces of art together.
Treeby serves as a lead judge for the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s State High School Art Competition. She hosts a free art clinic for children and for adults several times a year at the Sioux Falls and Lake Richmond Studios providing her vast knowledge over many media and all the art materials. Treeby has been twice selected as “Sculptor of the Year” by American Mothers, Inc.
Leuning works on developing wildlife habitat through native prairie grass and wildflowers, shrubbery and trees on his 4 acre Lake Richmond studio grounds. He is a four-time Tennessee Wildlife Officer of the Year for Region 3 and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency - State Wildlife Officer of the Year 1986.
Leuning and Treeby reserve a portion of their time away from commissioned artwork to produce two original bronze sculptures of a Norman Rockwell type realism to enter into community year-long sculpture walk venues. They excel in humorous, and insightful sculptures that have a hidden story, that when the viewer figures it out they feel good about themselves.
Their ability to connect with the common man and make viewing sculpture as really fun has led to their winning a Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk Award or purchase for each of its 16 years. They are the only artists to have been juried in each and every year. What is truly notable of this achievement is the national status of Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk.
It is by far the largest yearlong exhibit in the US with 56 major artworks downtown, 25 at Avera complex and 20 at Sioux Falls University. Most artists selected are nationally recognized and over 200 apply each year to be able to exhibit in Sioux Falls. Other Cities Sculpture Walks advertise that they have artwork that made it previously into SFSW.
They are selected every year to appear on television and radio coverage of the opening day of the Walk and to give sculpting demonstrations at the Walk’s major fundraisings. They have been accepted into all of the major Midwest cities that the now increasingly popular art venue is growing into.
They include St. Louis, Springfield, Chesterfield, St Joe, Marysville, Missouri.; Salina and Hutchinson, Kansas; Mason City and Sioux City, Iowa; Decatur, Indiana; Mankato, St. Cloud, Stillwater, Bemidji, Victoria-Minnesota; Sheridan, Wyoming; Golden, Colorado; Castlegar, B.C. Canada; and Watertown, Yankton, Milbank, South Dakota.
They have won “People’s Choice” or judges awards at all these events on a regular basis. To the extent that other artists hate to see that they are entered.
