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 ceremony. The painted drum edition of Taos Drums combine 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 used acrylics, oil or natural earth pigment to apply theirs designs.

However, all-natural earth paint are available upon request for certain designs

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

 More complex designs on the mural and story drums focus on cultural activities, seasonal cycles and scenes of indigenous people animal and landscapes.