Art council focuses local with Paint and Sip

Twelve painters came to the Hill City Arts Council (HCAC) Paint and Sip at the Prairie Dog Taproom Nov. 13. The painters created a Black Hills silhouette and sunset piece with local artist Jillian Kosmala instructing the evening. 

Kosmala lives in Rapid City but comes to the Heart of the Hills often to paint because “it’s so gorgeous.” She describes herself as mainly a landscape painter who has also done goats, horses and cows. She is known for her curved canvas painting and her work is currently being sold locally at Homestead Studio. She does a “good many” events in Hill City and thought the Paint and Sip sounded like fun.

Paint and Sip painters began their evening layering in a sunset before adding Black Hills pine trees.

“The choice of paint is up to you,” Kosmala told painters. “It’s your painting. All the colors work.”

As the painters continued she encouraged them.

“You don’t need straight lines because you don’t see straight lines in nature,” she said as trees were added, beginning with the tallest first.

Painters were heard critiquing themselves or complimenting their neighbors as well as bantering over the ease and fun of the evening. 

Kosmala was given free entry into the next Black Hills Plein Air Paint Out show in exchange for hosting two Paint and Sip sessions for the HCAC. Jenn Youngblood, HCAC coordinator, expects the next one to be held in January. 

Youngblood said the HCAC, a nonprofit organization, is “focusing on smaller events this winter”  as a means to be more locally based, for both community members and businesses. 

It will host several bingo night fundraisers and is collaborating again with the Prairie Dog Taproom in an ornament decorating afternoon Nov. 22. Youngblood sees this as a way to have a “local Christmas tree.” 

People can take ornaments home or place them on the tree at Prairie Dog. The HCAC is donating the paint and ornaments for a suggested fee.

Its next Paint and Sip and its bingo evenings will be held at a different local businesses to help “share the love a little bit” in the slower winter season, said Youngblood.

HCAC’s Live on Stage will begin in January and will run through March and will once again be held downstaris at the Chute Rooster. The larger space can accommodate 60-70 people which is more than last year.

HCAC lost funding from the Hill City Common Council in 2025. As a result it canceled one of its signature events, Fine Arts in the Hills.

Youngblood said that event is coming back in  June 2026. Instead of under a tent, the event will be held in the Hill City Center, which cuts “$10,000 in costs,” Youngblood said. “Artists feel better in a locked building,” she added, saying air conditioning and bathrooms will also make artists and patrons more comfortable. 

HCAC will have its annual meeting Dec. 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the Hill City Center. It’s an opportunity to learn more about the organization and get involved in its mission.

For more information about HCAC events, follow its Facebook page.