Students sketch portrayals of 19th century Native American history

Students in a fall 2014 figure drawing class led by Robert Schiffhauer, associate professor of architecture, created sketches from reenactments in a dark period of 19th century Native American life.

The reenactments are from a play-in-progress by Susan Gordone, wife of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Texas A&M professor [Charles Gordone] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2011/4/28/schiffhauer-gordone-exhibit/) , about an archivist preparing a museum exhibit explaining the 1890 massacre at [Wounded Knee] (http://www.woundedkneemuseum.org) , South Dakota.

The play’s scenes include portrayals of the [ghost dance] (http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-ghostdance.html) , part of a Native American spiritual movement, popular at the time of the massacre, that promised the creation of a new world devoid of nonbelievers.

Other scenes in the play are homages to Edward Curtis, who documented Native American life in more than 40,000 [photographs] (http://edwardscurtis.com) , 10,000 wax cylinder recordings and biographies of tribal leaders.

The project is the latest in a series of Schiffhauer and Gordone collaborations.

During the spring 2014 semester, students [sketched] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2014/4/29/students-sketch-19th-century/) scenes from a play Gordone is writing about gauchos, Argentine cowboys who in the 19th century helped create the tango.