Small Business Saturday
Celebrate and support small business!
Saturday, November 24, 2012 - the day between Black Friday and Cyber Monday - marks Small Business Saturday®. This day is dedicated to recognizing our local businesses and applauding them for all they do for our community.
We at Prairie Edge Trading Co & Galleries and the Sioux Trading Post will be celebrating our small business with a "Tax Free Day" (all in-store purchases are tax free), a chance to sign up for a $1000 gift card giveaway, an exciting array of original art for $200 and under, as well as demonstrations by local artisans and book signings by area authors.
Artist Demonstrations & Book Signings
Meet a few of our extraordinary local authors and watch a sampling of our exceptional local artists create! This exciting lineup of local makers will be in attendance from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Don Montileaux
An enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, Donald Montileaux is admired for his unique stylized imagery, brilliant use of color, and ability to capture the beauty of movement.
He has won international acclaim for his artwork and is especially celebrated for his iconographic ledger drawings.
His ledgers fuse ancient symbolism with contemporary design and explode with Native American history, spirituality, myths, and legend in radiant color and powerful compositions.
Del Iron Cloud
A Hunkpapa Lakota, Del Iron Cloud is from the Standing Rock Reservation between the border of North and South Dakota. As a young man, he enlisted in the Air Force and traveled the world and retired as Staff Sergeant.
He says he now has time to concentrate on his first love - painting.
His images are exquisite representations of his Native roots and bring to life the simple beauties of everyday life and the powerful struggles experienced by his ancestors.
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux tribe, was born in Fort Thompson, South Dakota, and raised on the reservation. She is Professor Emerita of English and Native American Studies at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington.
Her writing and teaching centers on the “cultural, historical, and political survival of Indian Nations.” She also says, “The final responsibility of a writer like me…is to commit something to paper in the modern world which supports this inexhaustible legacy left by our ancestors.”
Paul Goble
For the past 35 years, English born author and artist Paul Goble has called Rapid City SD home. As a child, he was fascinated with the Native American culture and as an adult has written and illustrated numerous books about traditional aspects of Indian life on the Great Plains - his signature watercolor illustrations are renowned for their beautiful imagery.
He says of his work, "I have written all my books primarily with Indian children in mind because I firmly believe that what is fine from 'buffalo days' can be transferred to life in these 'automobile days'. The essential truths contained in the mythology never change. They are like an anchor. Similarly, the examples of their great leaders of history can be taken for today's inspiration".
Jennifer Braig
Jennifer Braig grew up in a small Iowa town and currently lives in Spearfish, SD.
Her work portrays the beautiful landscapes of the Black Hills and the rolling farmlands of her childhood home in Iowa.
She says of her work, "My paintings invite you to step close. Full of texture and color, they offer a luxurious eye feast. The images are representations of places I have lived in and traveled through. The surface of my work is alive and lush…The work is real and full of life".
Bonnie Halsey-Dutton
Hailing from South Dakota, Bonnie Halsey-Dutton looks to the earth for balance and is inspired by local petroglyph rock carvings as symbolic human links to this earth.
She says of her work, " My artwork honors stories and through painting, I explore mankind's connection to the past. I believe we are all products of our past; each of our individual stories has, in some way, been handed down to us. We have based our belief of who we are on family stories, photographs, and our growing consciousness of the world around us".
David Lawrence-Rooks
Seeking solace in simpler things and refuge from the madness of the modern world, in his book, A Still Moon & Stars, David Lawrence-Rooks speaks about worries, hopes, disillusionment and love. Subjects run from the price of milk to doubts about, or faith in, God.
Mr. Rooks spent his childhood on his father's Native land of the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Today, he lives in Hot Springs, SD where he and his wife are raising their 6 children, 2 cats, 1 dog, 12 fish, and a black widow spider.