Southern ice art (5)
I believe the answer is:
skill
'art' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'southern ice' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 'S' (abbreviation).
'ice' becomes 'kill' (ice can informally mean to kill or assassinate).
's'+'kill'='SKILL'
(Other definitions for skill that I've seen before include "Craft; dexterity" , "Prowess" , "Ability acquired by training" , "Ability - dexterity" , "Aptitude" .)