The Sower

In 1949 Palmer Eide of the Augustana College Art Department was commissioned to create an eight foot wide by six foot high fresco titled "The Sower," based on Mark 4:1-20 for the new library at the Augustana Academy in Canton, South Dakota. Not wishing to work alone and needing help, he asked Ogden Dalrymple, his close friend in the art department, to assist. The fresco was presented to the Augustana Academy by the class of 1949.

For forty years the fresco hung on the library wall, literally forgotten, until Joel Eide '53, director of the art gallery at Arizona University at Flagstaff, recalled that his uncle had created the piece. His desire was that it should be preserved if it still existed.

Keystone Treatment Center in Canton had taken over some of the buildings at the Augustana Academy after it closed in 1971. Joel Eide communicated with the Center's director to begin tracking down the fresco.

In the old library on the north wall was what appeared to be a raised wall hanging. Investigation with paint remover revealed the missing fresco. It had been painted over with a white paint and sand mixture and was supposedly used as a film screen.

With Keystone's permission, Joel and Diana Eide and Howard and Eunice Hovland carefully worked to remove the fresco from the wall to which it was bolted. Aside from a few cracks, areas of layer separation, and chipped edges, the fresco appeared to be in fairly good condition.

Under the direction of Dr. Arlen Viste, Chair of the Natural Science Division at Augustana, the paint removal began. Augustana's Director of the Center for Liturgical Art, Robert Aldern, agreed to supervise the restoration of the piece by a number of Academy volunteers.

The paint coating was dissolved and cleaned down to the original fresco surface. Since the true fresco was painted on wet plaster and the surface was now dry, Robert Aldern restored selected areas with an over-painting of oil on the dry plaster to simulate the original fresco in stroke, color, and medium.

Upon completion, "The Sower" was permanently hung in the narthex of the Chapel of Reconciliation and dedicated on Sunday, December 5, 1999.