15 Inch Deer Hide Drum | Hand Painted Talon Art

15 Inch deer hide on a maple frame. I love Southeastern Ceremonial Complex iconography, Piasa, the worlds, but one of my favorite pieces of this Mississippian art is the raptor claw. The raptor-talon motif was prominent in Mississippian ceremonial art for roughly two centuries, ca. AD 1200–1400. I replaced Woodpecker heads with the talons from the shell work, it felt fitting in the moment. This powerful element is combined with a fourfold interlocking scroll, and four-lobed solar motif, both also classic of the region and period.

Elemental colors in red, green, yellow, blue, and white.

Leather wrapped hand hold on back.