Lloyd One
Star
Lakota Sioux
Parfleche
Drum - Aspen
15" H
x 14 1/2" W x 3 1/2" D
Parfleche is a French Canadian
word coined by French Canadian fur traders at the time of their
earliest contact with Prairie and Eastern Plains Indian tribes
in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
It is derived from the French
term, parer (to parry or turn aside) and fleche (arrow), referring
to war shields that were made of heavy buffalo rawhide and had
the ability to turn away an arrow.
But sturdy untanned hides
also made excellent storage and travel containers for the early
Native people of the Plains. Lloyd One Star has incorporated
these same materials and techniques into a versatile art object.
Lloyd is Lakota from the Rosebud
band of Sioux in South Dakota. He has been a long time advocate
of the arts and a traditional craftsman all of his life.
He is active in his community
and with other personal and professional endeavors, so his artwork
is very limited. We only see about one or two of these incredible
rawhide drums each year.
Lloyd prides himself in strict
adherence to traditional materials and methods, he even takes
his own buffalo each year during a traditional hunt.
The rawhide is untreated buffalo
stretched over a wooden frame. The designs are authentic Lakota
symbols found on early parfleche containers, tipi covers, and
clothing.
Lloyd's drums are decorated
with natural pigments and are colorfast which allows them to
be used as well as enjoyed as art objects. He also cuts a small
hole in the frame of each drum to allow it to "breath."
When you look inside the hole, you will see his signature inscribed
on the inside of the drum!
These unique pieces are some
of the finest examples of traditional ethnographic material combined
with fine art form and function we have found. I have one in
my own personal collection as a rare and unique addition.
I really like how the marblized
character of the buffalo hide shows through in the skin - unlike
beef hides which are usually plain by comparison. This is one
of the tell-tale signs of buffalo hide versus beef hide usage.
