This is what the buffalo hide looks like before it is stretched out across an actual drum. You can see where the surface of the drum is to be based on the circle design in the middle of the hide. Each ring of the circle has hunters on horseback chasing down a buffalo. It commemorates what it takes to hunt the buffalo and the continuation of the buffalo hunt.
this is a nice modern version of an old art form...many painted buffalo hides were collected during the mid 1800s and Angela Swedburg has made a few recently. You may find this blog entry to be interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/the-story-behind-the-painted-buffalo-robes/