SHARING THE SPIRIT OF TAOS SINCE 1951

For centuries, pueblo drums have been painted with symbolic colors and designs to bring a special unifying power to tribal ceremonies. The painted drum edition of Taos Drums combines the traditional with new directions in the ancient craft of drum making by utilizing the tri-cultural artistic resources from the northern New Mexico area.
 

Historically, Native Americans used natural dyes and colorings gathered from Mother Earth to apply designs to their drum heads. Today, local artisans at Taos Drums commonly use acrylics, oil or natural earth pigment to apply theirs designs.
However, all-natural earth paints are available upon request and only for certain designs.
 

Top-painted drums for hand use or wall hangings are painted in many styles and patterns from petroglyph and the Mimbres inspired designs to newer designs that reflect the regional influence of the southwest and plains cultures
 

The mural and story drums have more complex designs that focus on cultural activities, seasonal cycles, and scenes of indigenous people, animals, and landscapes.