“The Last Warriors” is one of 12 original framed watercolors by Jane Seaton on sale at G & M Artworks in Whitewood.
Border-town artist makes a splash with watercolors
By Talli Nauman
Native Sun News
Health and Environment Editor WHITEWOOD — Jane Seaton grew up as a reservation border town girl in Wood, South Dakota. 1930s Depression era trading post scenes marked her childhood memories from the age of 3. Now at the age of 83, she is making a splash with her watercolors of them. Seaton is displaying a retrospective of her paintings in another small town by the similar name of Whitewood. The exhibit venue is G & M Artworks during the gallery’s first Arts & Crafts for Everyone, an event scheduled Dec. 17, from noon to 8 p.m. The collection went on display here in October at the same time it was featured on the cover of the monthly Land & Livestock magazine published by the Pierre Capital Journal. Arts & Crafts for Everyone includes one dozen framed Seaton originals, plus a silent auction to benefit the South Dakota Rancher Relief Fund. “Please come on out and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and some popcorn, while you browse, shop and support our local vendors and ranchers,” says Gloria Abdala, proprietor of the new gallery, which is adjacent to her studio at 1307 Laurel St. The South Dakota Rancher Relief Fund was established by the S.D. Stockgrowers Association, S.D. Cattlemen's Association and S.D., Sheepgrowers Association at the Black Hills Area Community Foundation to provide support and relief assistance for livestock producers impacted by the unseasonable Winter Storm Atlas Oct. 4-7. Seaton’s exhibit is appropriate for attracting attention to the needs of victims of the extreme weather event that took the lives of entire herds of livestock across the western part of the state, leaving ranchers destitute. Severe weather’s impacts, after all, created the background for the reservation border town themes she has painted from memories and old photos, some of which she took with a box camera. Her father Philip Berg wouldn’t have even moved her family from Omaha to Wood if it hadn’t been for the weather that created the drought and dust bowl of the Dirty Thirties. His uncle’s Outlaw Trading Post in Wood was the best bet for him to get work amidst the raging unemployment of the times. It meant the family had to sacrifice opportunities in the performing arts world where her parents had exercised musical abilities and theatrical talents. Berg made up for it by providing his daughter with art supplies from his trips, and she did the family proud. Her paintings include not only depictions of people in small town streets, but portraits such as that of Kate Bear Doctor, landscapes, encampments and ceremonies such as a pow wow and a funeral procession on horseback. The artworks capture the way it was more than half a century ago in the town located in the central part of the state about 10 miles north of the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation and about 10 miles south of the White River. Folk art, jewelry, candles, and name-brand cosmetics will also be available at the art and crafts event. “Santa will stop by, so bring your camera,” Abdala says. G & M Artworks is reached via Interstate 90 Exit 23. (Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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