BROOKINGS — The South Dakota Art Museum Guild will host a program at the museum on Sept. 24 featuring cartoonist, visual artist and book illustrator artist Hector Curriel.

Coffee and social time begins at 9:30 a.m., with the program at 10 a.m. He will also be available to sign his award-winning graphic novel “American Ace: Joe Foss, Fighter Pilot” for a short time before and after his presentation. The public is invited to attend.

Hector Curriel has titled his program “From Farm Boy to American Hero.” A Sioux Falls-based visual artist, Curriel was born in Lima, Peru. He went to the Engineering National University in Peru and obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture. After moving to the United States in 2001, Curriel started to work as an editorial cartoonist for newspapers in the U.S., a book illustrator with more than 10 books published, and a fine artist as well.

Curriel’s most recent book is a graphic novel about an American hero, Joe Foss, published in 2022 by the South Dakota Historical Press. “American Ace: Joe Foss, Fighter Pilot” has won a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. In 2009 he won a second-place award in the Charles Schulz Cartoon Art Competition, and in 2011, a first-place Professional Award at Art Instruction Schools and the Midwest Book Award as a book illustrator.

As a fine artist, many of his paintings are in private and public collections, and he has been featured in various exhibits at venues such as the California State Library, Augustana University, and the South Dakota State Capitol. Additionally, he has been working for more than eight years as an accomplished artist presenter and holds frequent art workshops as part of the Artists in Residency Program for the South Dakota Art Council. To learn more about Curriel’s art works, visit his website here.

Guild membership is not required to attend the free monthly programs. However, $20 annual dues support these programs and the Guild art acquisition fund. Membership is open to all. Programs begin in September and run through May.

The South Dakota Art Museum is at 1036 Medary Ave. in Brookings. There is designated free parking on Harvey Dunn Street, just west of the museum.