We have our cards on display at the Twin Hickory Area Library in Glen Allen, Richmond. there are several new designs from the contemporary style. These are from a new artist Bhagyashree Guhagarkar and Neelima Ganta. There are four designs on display by another very talented artist Varsha Dabholkar. Varsha's themes are traditional and her colors bold.

Folk Arts of India - Embroidery : Phulkari

India is a land of diverse art forms matured over millennia by constant practice and use. Her warm weather, cycle of seasons and vivacious flora and fauna inspires her people to create vibrant art forms. In India art is an integral part of living that is woven into every day activities. It is not something to be placed on a pedestal and observed in galleries. In this series of articles, we introduce some of the wonderful traditional arts from India that have inspired our artists.

Akash Kandil

Phulkari

Phulkari for some time now is being used in home furnishings specially wall hangings, sofa throws and other soft furnishings. Phulkari is traditionally done on a handspun khadi cloth with simple darning stitches using the un spun silk floss yarn called 'pat'. Single strand threads are used for the purpose.

Simple stitches in the adept hands make it one of the most sought after embroidery craft. Shading and variation is often obtained by the using horizontal, vertical or diagonal stitches. There are a variety of phulkari styles used for different occasions and purposes.

This artwork is by one of the Heart2Heart founding artist, Sandhya Kiran.

Folk Arts of India - Rangoli : Muggu

India is a land of diverse art forms matured over millennia by constant practice and use. Her warm weather, cycle of seasons and vivacious flora and fauna inspires her people to create vibrant art forms. In India art is an integral  part of living that is woven into every day activities. It is not something to be placed on a pedestal and observed in galleries. In this series of articles, we introduce some of the wonderful traditional arts from India that have inspired our artists.

Rangoli:

Ratham Muggu

Rangoli is an ancient art form of India wherein colorful patterns of designs are created for festive occasions or for decoration of the home by the women. Rangoli literally means 'rows of lines' or 'colors and lines' (Rang=row/color and Oli=lines). Rangoli is referred to by different names in different regions of India depending on the medium used to draw it. It is called Kolam or Muggu in the Southern parts of India and Alpana in eastern parts. Several other names also exist to describe this art form. The medium used is finely powdered sand, rice paste, chalk, lime etc. on a adobe background.

Rangoli patterns are vibrantly colorful depicting mythological symbols, flowers, birds, mythological events or abstract patterns. Sometimes simple geometrical patterns are drawn using dots and lines. Rangoli is widely drawn during festivals, especially Diwali. It is also drawn every day at the entrance of the home to welcome positive energies into the home. A border of Rangoli is drawn around the dining plates when people sit cross-legged on the floor for their meals, especially in the rural areas of India. A practical use of this is also to deter insects from entering the demarcated zone.

The origin of Rangoli cannot be known for sure, but there is a description of it in the Ramayana. It is stated that the people of Ayodhya decorated their streets and homes with beautiful rangolis to welcome Lord Rama when he arrived in Ayodhya with his bride Princess Sita of Mythila after their marriage ceremony. The art of rangoli thus dates back into antiquity and is still practiced and enjoyed across India. 

The card featured here is done by the Heart2Heart guest artist Rukmini. The style of rangoli is from southern part of India and it is called Muggu. Muggu is traditionally done using rice flour paste.

Folk Arts of India - Painting : Madhubani

India is a land of diverse art forms matured over millennia by constant practice and use. Her warm weather, cycle of seasons and vivacious flora and fauna inspires her people to create vibrant art forms. In India art is an integral  part of living that is woven into every day activities. It is not something to be placed on a pedestal and observed in galleries. In this series of articles, we introduce some of the wonderful traditional arts from India that have inspired our artists.  

Madhubani or Mithila Art:

Evolution

Mithila art is a style of painting that has been traditionally practiced by women from the culture and tradition rich villages around Mithila region of Bihar state in India and adjoining parts of the Terai region in Nepal. Traditionally, painting was done on freshly plastered mud walls of huts, using pointed sticks or a handmade cloth brush with colors derived from plants. Now it is also done on cloth, hand-made paper and canvas. They are either in black and white or vibrantly colored.  

Madhubani paintings use two-dimensional imagery and mostly depict nature, Hindu motifs and stories from mythology. For example, the Sun, the Moon, fish, plant of Tulsi, deities like Radhe-Krishna, Goddess Durga, Saraswati, Ramayana stories, Shiva in form of ‘Ardhanarinateshwar’ etc. The paintings were usually done on walls during festivals, religious events, and other milestones in life, such as birth, sacred thread ceremony and marriage. Madhubani paintings contain intricate patterns in the spaces of the paintings. Symbolism associated with snake and fish is that of fertility and is usually painted for marriage.

A guest artist for Heart2Heart, Varsha Dabholkar has used this style to express her ideas in the card 'Evolution'.

Folk Arts of India - Wall Art : Warli

India is a land of festivals and diversity. Her warm weather, cycle of seasons and vivacious flora & fauna inspires her inhabitants to bring the vibrancy of color, flow and expression in their day to day living without putting it on pedestal. In this series of articles, we will introduce the wonderful traditional arts from India.

Warli Paintings:

Warli Dance

Warli painting is a form of art that uses pictographs of white rice flour expressing folk life of the Warli people on the mud walls of their huts. Literally meaning a 'piece of field', Warla is a tribal population from the western ghats of the state of Maharashtra. Women usually indulge in this art during ceremonies, social gatherings and harvest seasons. Their paintings depict human and animal figures using geometric shapes of circles, triangles and squares, connected with dashes and dots, engaged in activities like cooking, farming, hunting, and celebrating with scenes of their villages or the surrounding countryside.

Many tribal artists have won prestigious awards for rejuvenating this simple, childlike art form. In modern times it continue to emphasize the inter-connectedness of human beings and nature on handmade papers and wooden articles. For the Warlis, life is an eternal circle. At the occasions of birth, marriage, and death, they draw circles that are symbolic of Mother Goddess. Death is not the end for them; rather it is a new beginning. This is why circles best represent the art of Warli, which has neither an end nor a beginning.

An artist from Heart2Heart, Shyamal Khadye is inspired to create the card ‘Warli Dance’in this style.