Wild ducks coast toward a landing in a river's backwater in Terry Redlin's "Apple River Mallards." Deer cautiously pick their way through new snow in his "Back from the Fields." Canada geese soar over a creek as the afternoon mist blankets the hillside in "Hazy Afternoon."
Dementia had stilled his paintbrushes since 2007, but Redlin's art — with scenes of rural landscapes lit by the setting sun, wildlife and nature — still resonates with myriad fans nostalgic for rural America.
Redlin, who grew from modest beginnings to become one of the country's most prolific and acclaimed wildlife artists, died Sunday at a care center in Watertown, S.D. He was 78.
Although he painted his originals in oil, his work has been reproduced in limited-edition prints, posters, coffee mugs, jigsaw puzzles and knickknacks.
Redlin was named "most popular artist" for nine years running — from 1990 to 1999 — by U.S. Art magazine from a nationwide survey of art galleries.
He won the Minnesota Duck Stamp competition in 1981 and 1985 and the Minnesota Bass Stamp competition in 1982. He won three lithograph of the year awards from the National Association of Limited Edition Dealers. He donated art to Ducks Unlimited that raised more than $28 million for wetland conservation. In Sioux Falls, S.D., an elementary school was named after him.
More than 150 of his original paintings — as well as prints, sketches and childhood drawings — can be seen at the Redlin Art Center in Watertown, his hometown. More than 3 million people have visited the center since it opened in 1997.
"His legacy will be a lifetime of art that touches people's hearts," said Julie Ranum, the center's executive director.
He was "completely unaffected by his success," Ranum said. "I don't know that I've met many other individuals that are as kind, gentle and humble."
In the first few years after the Art Center was built, Ranum said she'd find Redlin driving around the parking lot.
"He said he couldn't believe there were so many cars with license plates from so many different states that were coming to see his art," she said.
Other times, Ranum said, he would come to the center unannounced and mingle with visitors — without letting on that he was the artist.
"I often had the pleasure of telling them they just had a one-on-one conversation with the artist," she said.
Redlin had a modest start. At 15, a motorcycle he was riding on was hit by a drunken driver and he lost his leg — shattering his dreams of being a forest ranger. His wife, Helene Redlin, recalled Monday that their first date was at their senior prom. They married in 1956; both were 19. He worked with his dad, painting houses; she worked at the phone company.
Then, thanks to a $1,500 state scholarship for people with disabilities, the couple moved to St. Paul so he could go to school at the St. Paul School of Associated Arts.
Redlin worked in commercial art for 25 years: as a designer in the playing-card division at Brown & Bigelow, as a city drafting engineer and at Webb Publishing Co. as an illustrator. When his last company was preparing to be sold to a British firm, Helene Redlin said, he decided it was time to strike out on his own as an artist.
Redlin always carried an old Polaroid camera, taking pictures in the woods, fields and plains of Minnesota and South Dakota. His first big break came when his painting "Winter Snows" appeared on the cover of the Farmer magazine in 1977. Print orders started slowly; then buyers became insatiable.
"It took off like helter skelter," Helene Redlin said. "All of the galleries in the Twin Cities wanted more, more. I was the only salesman."
It hit a record, Helene Redlin said, when one of his prints sold for $5,200. Today, his first-run limited editions sell for about $1,800 to $2,400.
The Redlins lived on and off in the Twin Cities for decades before returning permanently to Watertown in the late 1990s.
Ranum said Redlin collected stones from the shores of Lake Kampeska, where he had a house. He donated the collection to the center when he retired. Now, the center works with artists to polish the stones and turn them into jewelry.
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard requested that flags be flown at half-staff on the day of Redlin's funeral, to honor the artist's life and contributions.
"Terry Redlin was an iconic South Dakota artist," Daugaard said in a statement. "For many South Dakotans, Terry's work brought to life our fondest memories of our state's outdoor heritage and rural roots."
Besides his wife, Redlin is survived by a son, Charles; daughters Kim and Kelly; two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Services are pending.
Ben Farniok, a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune, contributed to this report.
Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252
