Original Paha Ska (White Hills) Lakota (Sioux) Velvet Painting Native American Art

This is a velvet painting by one of our local Native American Artist. Paha Ska which translates to White Hills.

"Orville Francis Salway was born in a soddy on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to William and Winifred Janis Salway. He was educated at the OCS boarding school in Pine Ridge, leaving after 9th grade. He worked in the oil fields, on ranches, in construction, as a boxer traveling in shows, and played in several movies filmed in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

All his life he loved two things: horses and art. Demand for his paintings made it possible for him to breed better horses, and his artwork was sold all over the world through art shows and through being an artist in residence at Mt. Rushmore. Dressed in traditional garb and eagle feather headdress, Paha Ska (White Hills) as named by Ben Black Elk, was official greeter and goodwill ambassador for the town of Keystone for 48 years."

This velvet painting was painted in the 1960's. Paha Ska would sit and paint in front of the "Indians" a local tourist trading post. He would pose for the tourist with his pony Kippy. The third picture is a postcard from that era saying that he was noted for his Velvet Paintings. The last picture is a rabbit hide that he painted in the 1990's. Paha Ska passed on in 2005.