African Arts And Crafts

Africa is a well known for its art and craft works. Most of these arts works are found in the form of sculptures, fabric work, decorative items, musical instruments like drums, and paintings. Most of the statues can be found in the form of human beings, which represents great leaders. They make their art work in such a way that each and every piece of art reveals their tradition and culture. Normally Africans doesn't show affection to each other, they make their art work which resembles their culture.

The African people often include animal statues like horses, lion, etc with human sculptures to respect great people and to honor them. For example every one know that horse is a noble animal, if a human statue is included with this animal , then he is considered as an honorable and respected person. Most of these carvings are made out of wood and stones.

There are many evidences which show that African arts could be found as early as 500BC. In some places of Sahara and Nigeria you can find the sculptures carved on rocks and woods. Metals like Bronze were also used by the people to make statues. They even used terracotta and ivory to make their art work richer. In those days most of the African people used these unique art pieces as decorative items for their home. People use to wear fabrics made with art work, which resembles the wearer as a part of an art piece. They even made wall paintings which were made out of wood and they used it as decorative item.



Most of the African arts and crafts resemble its tradition and culture. And today you can find those art pieces in the museums. African people used masks on some occasional days or on some regional ceremonies, and even in wars and also on the day of harvesting.

They design the masks according to their place, country or tribe. You can find many different patterns of masks which are made out of ivory and woods. For example, the people of Liberia and Ivory Coast make their masks with wide foreheads; flatten noses, big lips, and pieces of rope attached to make it look like hairs. They paint these masks with white color, as they believe that the masks serve them to scare of evil spirits and witches.

African baskets are another art which was designed in old African tradition. There are some particular places in Africa where baskets are famous, like Esths and Gumare tribes. In those day's the baskets were usually carried over the head, as the culture grew, two ropes were tied on each side of basket and they were carried in hands and named as handbags. As a result many unique and rich varieties of hand bags were made with some appealing arts on it. They even used materials such as mudcloth and suede to make bags.

Even today African arts and crafts are in a great demand among people as they are very magnificent. So decorate and design your interiors with the miracle and wonder of African arts and crafts.

African Art has something very special about it. African art has not changed dramatically from the Stone Age till today and this shows in the traditional designs of every type of art, be it African masks, African fabrics, African musical instruments, African ladies Handbags, African carvings and in fact all manner of African art and crafts.

It is not that symbolic African arts and crafts are only desirable in Africa; this art form has a following worldwide. Art appreciators understand that the creation of African masks and African musical instruments have a specific legacy. Methods for the creation of these items of an artistic nature have been passed down by word of mouth from father to son and mother to daughter for eons. The principle for the creation of these pieces has been for spiritual as well as practical purposes.

Traditional African fabrics are generally created using the batik method; this essentially means that the fabrics have been printed with designs using a hand dying method. Making the fabrics unique as well as individual, much more in the line of African arts and crafts than the machine woven or dyed cloth that is prevalent in western societies.

The creation of African Masks dates way back into history and some have been know to have been created further back in time than the Paleolithic era. Generally created from wood, African masks are also manufactured using leather, metal and fabric. They are highly prized and sought after today as art pieces but the original intention for them was for ceremonial purposes. The African mask traditionally represents a god or spirit and the wearer was believed to be possessed by the spirit represented by the mask.

While African ladies handbags might be believed by some to be a more contemporary art form, they have in fact a very rich history. Although more traditionally worn by males. Generally worn hidden under clothing to contain the proceeds of an unattainable task in order to win the heart of their beloved. A Mossi (Burkina Fasso) proverb even says "What is left in the bag is superior to what has been taken away"

Interestingly African musical instruments are also much sought after by art collectors and musicians alike. Even the banjo, thought to be a western instrument is of African historical origin and hand drumming is very specific throughout the entire continent of Africa as a means to support ritual dance. Many African cultures have used African musical instruments to ward off evil spirits. African music is seen as being dynamic and very functional, unlike western music that is designed to merely dance or listen to.

African Carvings are very pertinent to African culture and takes the form of many varieties of them, the most common themes in African carving of people are a couple, a woman and child, males with a weapon or animal and a stranger or outsider. African Carving also takes the shape of common household utensils. Bowls may be carved from stone or wood. The traditional Zulu meat or "nyama" bowl is carved from wood.

Essentially African arts and crafts have a rich cultural history and are widely sought after by collectors and art appreciators throughout the world.

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Africa is a great place for arts and crafts. In Africa the art work is made out of wood and stones, which will mainly be in the form of statues, musical instruments, paintings, decorative items or drums. And commonly they carve statues in the form of a human being which represent their leaders or great peoples. African people usually don't show affection among each other, they make their art work which resembles their tradition.

Most of the time the statues of animals will be included with human sculptures to honor great people and to respect them. Because animals like horse are well known as noble animals, when a persons figure is carved with this kind of animals, that person is considered as a noble person, who should be respected. The carvings are mostly made out of wood and stones.

You can find many evidences which prove that African arts were found as early as 500BC, with carved rocks in Sahara and sculptures in Nigeria. People even used metals like bronze to carve statues, and they even used Ivory and terracotta to make their art look even richer. And these rich arts were reserved for royalties. People used these arts and craft works to decorate their houses. People wore hand made fabrics with full of artistic works, which reveals the wearer as a part of that art piece. They even used wall paintings to fill their houses with traditional art.

African arts and crafts mainly resembles it's tradition. Every single piece of art resembles the culture and daily life of African people. Many historical African arts can be found in museums, one of the best examples is the African Mask. African people mainly used masks at the time of wars. And they even used it in some religious occasions and also on the day of harvesting.

African people design the masks according to their place, country or tribe. You can find many different patterns of masks which are made out of ivory and woods. For example, the people of Liberia and Ivory Coast make their masks with wide foreheads; flatten noses, big lips, and pieces of rope attached to one point to make it look like hairs. And the Punu people of Congo and Gabon carve their masks usually with wood and also the hairs on the masks will be made out of wood, which resembles rich women. And they paint these masks with white color, as they believe that the masks serve them to scare of evil spirits and witches.

Other African arts and crafts used in old African traditions are African baskets. The baskets of the Etsha and Gumare tribes in Botswana are particularly famous for their beauty. While baskets are usually carried over the head, the influence of foreign cultures has modified the way baskets are carried, allowing totes to be slung around one's shoulders. The result is many gorgeous designs of African ladies' handbags which are still quite unique and appealing, using indigenous materials such as mud cloth and suede, decorated with fringes and cowries shells. Contemporary, yet still reflective of a vast heritage of African arts and culture.

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