David A. Meyer II is the Assistant Curator at the Aktá Lakota Museum and Cultural Center located on the St. Joseph’s Indian School campus in Chamberlain, South Dakota. The journey to this role started 16 years ago when he began as a visiting art teacher at St. Joseph’s Indian School. The following year he became the new permanent art teacher. While teaching at the school the museum was a priceless resource for his students, which led to him becoming more involved with the museum. [In 2019] he transitioned to working at the museum full time. Meyer says “I love to learn and to teach what I have learned. I’m an artist and art advocate at heart. Working in this field draws upon qualities that I value in myself.”

     Meyer earned his BFA with an emphasis in printmaking at the University of South Dakota. He then attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, for an MFA, also with a printmaking emphasis. He spent a year teaching at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California before moving back to South Dakota. It was at this time that he was licensed to teach in South Dakota and taught at both St. Joseph’s Indian School and Lower Brule Community College.

     On an average day (although, he points out most days are far from average), Meyer directs and supervises the handling, display, loan, care, and storage of the museum collection. He works on exhibits and public outreach programs. He researches items in the collection. Serving on the acquisition committee for the museum while teaching gave Meyer a sense of responsibility for the museum collection before he made the switch in careers. To this day he still looks forward to the quarterly acquisition meetings. Now that he is full time at the museum, he says “This collection is sort of like my mentor in that I’ve been growing professionally as I respond to what I need to learn in order to be the best curator I can be.” Reflecting on his youth, Meyer mentioned a story about his curator-like tendencies at a young age. “When I was young I enjoyed taking everything out of my bedroom closet, then reorganizing it all by different criteria. I was old enough to compare myself to my peers and realize that this wasn’t a common pastime. If I could talk to my younger self I would encourage him to be himself without reservations because things find a way of working out.”

     The museum is on the St. Joseph’s Indian School campus, along the Missouri River, in a town of 2,500 people, in the middle of South Dakota. Pre-COVID, the museum averaged around 30,000 visitors a year. Meyer finds a spiritual connection to the museum and the grounds, saying “My office window looks out on the Medicine Wheel Garden and beyond that, the Missouri River. Our museum is in a circular shaped building that was once the school. Our collection includes priceless items of great cultural and spiritual significance. Nearby is the Our Lady of the Sioux Chapel. My point is that I never anticipated that I would find museum work to be a spiritual practice, and here I am.”

     In September 2020, David was featured in a Dress & Drinks webinar that can be seen on our YouTube channel. You can check out all of our Curator Profiles by clicking here.


~Profile written by Lauren Clark

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