Arts & Crafts

Arts and Crafts together create a potential force that enables artists to give material form to their innate refined qualities. It signifies the aesthetic sense, creative power and artistic quality of an artist is manifested. Arts and Crafts also have a great cultural and historical significance. Under the veneer of colors and craftsmanship can be found the rich history, culture, lifestyle and tradition of the bygone eras.

Both words have great value when they get implemented in practical manner. The young artists and craftsmen of today can learn a lot and innovate new ideas from the arts and crafts of the early days.

The Arts and Crafts Movement that created furor in the later half of the nineteenth century in Europe. It was a kind of social movement that emerged to point out the impact of industrialization on the society. The romanticism and the creative aspects of human beings were in decline and there was a clear shift from handmade crafts to the machine made ones.

It is difficult to classify the various streams and forms of Arts & Crafts . The variations of arts may include Decorative Arts, Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture, Photography and Videography, Dance , Singing etc. Ethnic as well as modern paintings and sculptures of brass, bronze and wood serve as great marvels for interior decorations. Crafts made from several resources like glass, wood, paper, plant products, metal, ceramics, porcelain, leather, fabrics and plastics can be used as indoor and outdoor decors or as gifts to the loved ones.

The practice of Arts and Crafts in India began from the Indus Valley Civilization and continues in the modern times. Fascinating Terracotta Crafts, Potteries, Textile Crafts and Metal Wares were the hallmarks of arts and crafts of the Indus era. The Mauryan era is famous for its Stone Sculptures and Jewelry .The handcrafted cave engravings of the Ajanta and Ellora capture Gupta arts in its finest form. Textile Crafts, Ornate Jewelries, Miniature Paintings and Sculptures characterize the Mughal era.

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Ancient Greek Pottery And Its Evolution

Pottery can be used as a classical support for understanding the antique Greek culture and civilization. The graphic illustrations skillfully fashioned on fancy pottery, reflect the manifold aspects of Greek life. The Greek empire from Stone Age to Hellenistic era has undergone quite a lot of changes. These alterations can be examined in terms of seven different eras through which the Greek society has passed. We will discuss in the following paragraphs how the Greek art of manufacturing pottery also underwent changes with the change in the different historical periods.

1 Greek Pottery In The Stone Age-

In the early Neolithic period Greek pottery was unadorned. In the mid Neolithic period people started decorating pottery with red and white geometric patterns. The newly formed and decorated potteries were known as Sesklo wares. Then the Dimni people of Greece in the late Neolithic period made special kinds of pottery which were black or cream in color.

2. Greek Pottery in the Early Bronze Age-

During this period the Minyan ware was found and it was brought by the indo European Greeks. It is a well made ware in a potter's wheel and is plain gray in color. It also has wide range of interesting shapes and sizes which was not found in the Stone Age.

3. Greek Pottery in the Late Bronze Age-

It was the Mycenean period and the Greeks started making designs on pottery. They made geometric shapes, humans, animals, sea creatures in cream colored background. The Greeks in the late Bronze Age made designs in black or red.

4. Greek Pottery in the Dark Age-

In this age the Mycenean civilization collapsed and so also the Mycenean pottery. People lost interest in the manufacturing of pottery. However this age also came to an end and people began manufacturing pots again. The pottery was made with circular drawings on it.

5. Greek Pottery in the Archaic Period-

In the 900 BC which is the archaic period the potters of Athens and Cornith regained their passion in pottery. In Cornith the artisans festooned miniature pots where the figures of mythical animals had been portrayed. The Athenians started painting mythological tales on their pottery and exclusive tales from Homer's Illiad.

6. Greek Pottery in Black Figure-

Gradually the clay pots of archaic period took a different picture as the focus shifted from shape of the pot to more and more scenes on it. A new style of painting developed and as a substitute of making human structures on the sketch, the potters now started to make natives in silhouette. The paintings were solely in black color.

7. Greek Pottery in Red Figure-

The Athenian potters in 500 BC, instead of painting the people black prepared the background of the pot black and made images on this black surface with red color. Though the painting was quite difficult the figures on the pot looked more realistic than ever. But 40 years hence the red figure Greek pottery also became extinct.

Greek pottery, as can be seen, went through many evolutionary stages giving us a wide variety of pottery ware, each unique in its own way.

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The Many Functions of Ancient African Art

Unlike their Western counterparts, only very little art bears the individual stamps of their artists. African artists were sometimes requested to create specific artworks for a king or a leader, but most of the time these were created by several tribal artists that had to work according to tradition. But in spite of these restrictions, many African artists still managed to express their own techniques and imagination. If a new technique was proven to be good or practical, it easily became part of the artistic tradition.

So much of African art was created for religious purposes. Spiritism, magic, ancestor worship and many other aspects of the religions of African tribes are commonly reflected in their art. Artworks were also created for celebrating marriage, funerals and other festive occasions. While most Western artists value art for its own beauty, African artists seem to place tremendous value and meaning to the forms, arrangement of shapes and lines on each work of art. It is very rare for an African sculptor to create art just for the sake of creating something beautiful. Nearly everything an African artist does has a function and a purpose.

Sculptures were made to honor ancestors, gods and kings. Elaborate masks were created to be worn on festive occasions. Beads, trinkets and jewelry were mostly used to indicate wealth, adolescence, marriage, or personal authority. Guardian figures made out of clay or metal were fastened to coffins to invite good spirits that would protect the dead and chase away evil demons. Stools, spoons, bowls, combs, as well as a variety of other useful items were carved to make them a little more decorative. But the object of African art is always meant to be useful first and beautiful only second.

Masks were an important piece of art in Africa. The use of masks had an important role in the spirit world that dominated the lives of the African people. They were used at initiation ceremonies, for example, when a boy was accepted as an adult in the tribe. Their main purpose however, was to scare away evil intruders and spirits. Among the most admired and prized masks are those from Sudan region. These have smooth finishes and very graceful lines that show off the intricate craftsmanship of their artists. Sometimes the masks were decorated with feathers and other trinkets. African masks were designed to be worn on top of the head instead of over the face. Their designs were usually based on the horns of an animal reaching heavenward.

Another important form of metal sculpture in Africa is the gold weight. These weights were also made in bronze, copper, or brass. These small cast figures were made in various sizes and weights to measure quantities of gold. Most of these weights were made in what is now known as the Ghana and they were essential to the gold trade. The Ashanti tribe, which produced more gold weights than any other tribe, patterned figures after medicine men, reptiles, trees, plants and geometric designs. Aside from weights, Africans have also made jewelry out of gold. African women of all ages wore gold trinkets for ornamentation in. Men on great occasions also wore long gold chains and pendants. The African goldsmith was a masterful craftsman and created intricate work with 18 karat gold.

Africans were also very good at making handicrafts. They wove their own textiles bags, robes and other decorative products. The artists who created fabrics were usually women while all other paintings were left to the men. The designs were generally geometrical in nature.

Pottery was also an important craft in Africa. Bowls and stools were usually very functional and simple in design. It is their simplicity that makes them so interesting. They also made baskets, shoes, fans and rugs made of a coarse cloth called samfos or a fiber like raffia.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Arts

The Beginnings of African Art

Although it has still not yet been proven, many scholars think that the rock paintings discovered in the Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria and Libya may have been done by the first African inhabitants. These rock paintings were probably done over 4000 years ago. The more acceptable origin of African art is the cave and rock paintings of South African bushmen that mostly depict men hunting animals. It is notable that the physical illustrations of the men have European and Asian, as well as African, characteristics. In the northern part of Nigeria, archaeologists have found sculpted heads made out with red clay also known as terra cotta. The heads were not in a very good condition, but were tested and found to be originally parts of statues that were about 2000 years old.

A closer look will reveal that there are great gaps in the history of African art, largely because most of its art was done in wood which does not last very long. These wooden pieces of art were easily destroyed when they were used in ceremonies, by rotting, or by termites. However in several areas of Africa, some of their art was done in metal and thus lasted longer. In what is now known as the western region of Nigeria, ancient artists had learned to use metal in the 13th century. They made their statues out of beeswax which they dipped in thick, wet clay. When the clay was dry, the statue was then heated to melt the wax. Then a hot, molten metal was poured into the clay mold where the wax had been. When the metal cooled and hardened, the artist broke the clay mold, leaving a metal statue.

The famous heads and carvings in metal casings and ivory represent as high an artistic achievement as anything done anywhere in the world at that time. These sculptures were very naturalistic (the artwork looked like the actual object it was meant to represent) unlike most other African art. The artist used name animals, birds, leaders, warriors and human heads for subject matter. Ivory was also used frequently, especially in the old kingdom of Benin. Benin art is actually closer to classical Western art than any other art created in Africa. As the Benin kingdom gradually died out, naturalistic art died along with it. It is still unknown what the influences were that resulted in the rapid growth of naturalism during this time, but whatever they were, they had long disappeared.

Toward the end of the 19th century, there had been a sudden surge of interest from the Western world toward African art. European artists discovered that African art had a rhythm, vitality and a unique use of distortion to accent certain elements that had been missing from recent Western art. Pablo Picasso is said to be one of the greatest fans of African art. It has been told that Picasso saw his first piece of African sculpture while dining at the apartment of another great artist, Henri Matisse. Picasso had supposedly been almost hypnotized by the sculpture and held it silently throughout the entire evening. When he went home, he started a painting and worked on it through the whole night and into the next day. In the painting, he used the basic forms of the African sculpture. It was probably at this very moment, if such a moment can be fixed, that African art that was previously called "savage" had begun to influence the art of our century.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Arts