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REDLIN'S SON DESIGNS CENTER

It is a structure of grand dimensions, looming over all who walk through the doors of the Redlin Art Center. Resplendent white granite colonnades rising 38 feet tall and weighing 41,000 pounds each define the exterior of the 52,000 square foot building showcasing the original paintings of artist Terry Redlin.

Redlin’s son, Charles, designed the building from the ground up and credits the architectural prowess of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks for inspiring his reach for grandeur. “Egyptian architects built their structures as if people were 50 feet tall. Everything was built on a grand scale. It was architecture intended to overwhelm,” said Redlin, himself a self-taught student of architecture.

The seed for the art center had its origin in Charles Redlin’s mind 23 years ago. He wanted to preserve and display under one roof the original artwork from the brushes of his father. Redlin says it was a hard sell. “I told Dad I wanted him to stop selling the originals. After a certain point, he didn’t need the money. I wanted a center to display them after he was gone.” The elder Redlin, who was living in a home and studio on the shores of Lake Minnetonka in Mound, Minnesota, eventually warmed to the idea, and the project was accelerated so it would be completed, instead, during his lifetime. “I showed him a three-dimensional concept of the design that I had worked on for months. He loved it and said, ‘Let’s pursue it.’”

In the early stages, Watertown didn’t immediately figure into the plans, however. “We bought some land along Interstate 494 in Minnesota and toyed with the idea of building the center there,” Redlin says. “We love our neighbors in Minnesota, but something didn’t feel right.”

Charles Redlin had concerns that urban sprawls in the Minneapolis area would swallow up the intrinsic beauty of the center, not a problem in Watertown where the impressive structure can be seen miles away by motorists traveling on Interstate 29.

“Since South Dakota sent Dad through school, he wanted to have it built here as a gift to South Dakota and to the people of Watertown.”

Young Redlin said he was never intimidated by the project’s dimensions, opting instead to immerse himself in the most minute detail of the ambitious undertaking.

Even before it opened in June 1997, the center was named a Merit Award winner in 1996 Build America Awards by the Associated General Contractors of America.

In addition to designing the Redlin Art Center, Charles Redlin is an accomplished classical guitarist and pianist. His music fills the gallery on a daily basis. In 2001, Charles traveled to Heidelberg, Germany, to study printing. When he returned to the U.S., he purchased his own printing press and has, for the past six years, been the exclusive printer of all of Terry Redlin’s fine art prints. In addition, Charles has studied and become proficient in structural engineering, cytology, ichthyology, astrophysics, and microscopy. He currently resides in Watertown, South Dakota and is the President of the Redlin Art Center Board of Directors and the President/CEO of RAI Publishing.