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Artist who gave Dakota name 'Seas Within' explains Indigenous ceremonies and symbols behind his paintings
Summary
An artist who identified his Dakota name as 'Seas Within' told a local audience that his paintings draw on vision-quest ceremonies, buffalo imagery and stories such as the White Buffalo Calf Woman; one piece addresses murdered and missing Indigenous women and a version of his Dakota Starry Night hangs in the South Dakota Governor’s Mansion.
The presenter, who introduced himself by his Dakota name as "Seas Within," spent the session explaining how Dakota ceremonies and personal history inform his paintings and a recently published book of his art. "My Dakota name is, Seas Within," he said, opening with the vision that gave him his name after a ceremony at Bear Butte.
Seas Within described how a hanbleceya (vision quest) on a mountain shaped the themes in his work and how art became a form of healing after childhood trauma. He recounted growing up in Central Housing in Fort Thompson, being sent to an Indian boarding school where he said he was abused, and later turning to alcohol before finding solace in painting. "I turned to my art, for healing," he said, and credited an older brother for encouraging his early work.
He discussed several pieces and the cultural meanings behind them: Dakota Starry Night, which adapts Van…
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