Native American Parfleche

Fourth Graders at Currier Memorial School put the finishing touches on these beautiful raw hide bags today.  The bags were made in two art classes.  We used geometric designs to decorate the bags.  The designs are inspired by bags used by Cheyenne, Crow, and Lakota tribes of the American Plains.  These tribes were primarily nomadic.  They traveled by horse with the changing seasons as they followed the great herds across the American Plains.  Because they moved frequently, they needed bags like these to pack food, clothing, and other important items. These bags were typically made of raw hide, which can be made more quickly and more easily than buckskin.  Rawhide is a tough material and the bags are called Parfleches.  The word parfleche comes from the French words "pare" and "fleche" and means...deflects arrows.  Raw hide is tough enough to deflect an arrow and also used to make shields.
To make the parfleche we first looked at artifacts on this website. http://www.truewestmagazine.com/photo/slideshow/?id=95&photo_id=756&pos=1 . 

We looked closely at the designs, focusing on the lines, shapes, color, proportion, and balance.  To create the design students were given three cardboard templates.  They used a 6"X6" square to outline the perimeter of the design.  They were also given a 3"X6" and a 2"x6"  template to help them sub-divide their square or to use as the wished as a straight edge.
After a rough draft was approved they began their final design on a piece of crumpled brown paper.  Students used crayons or colored pencils to add color to their designs.  We tried to remain true to traditional colors:  red, white, green, yellow and blue.  Students were asked to color heavily and completely.  They were instructed to continue their design onto the flap.  Then holes were punched and the sides were laced up.
This project is one part of a larger classroom based unit of study.  To see the parfleches and other Native American works in progress please visit the fourth grade classroom.