The sights - The smells - The colors - The feel

Just cause peeps in Asia have a working day today... i thought i'l share some colors to brighten their day...

 

The colors

 

The smells

Feel and explore...

The feel... pistachio flowers

Have a colorful weekend!

Playing = Learning = Exploring

Ending this week with a unique idea - Explore your weekend!


Last year, UNICEF and the Dutch non-profit organisation INDEX announced a very interesting student design competition. In keeping with the UN”s target to provide primary education for all by 2015,  students from all over the world were asked to submit designs for educational equipment and services for developing countries. 115 entries were received in all, out of which an international jury selected seven finalists last week.


And at the top of that list is Akshara, a deceptively simple learn-as-you-play kit designed by Sayantani Dasgupta and Meghma Mitra from Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology.

The kit is made up of several little pieces — curlicues, dashes, strokes and dots — laser cut from MDF. These little pieces can be put together in several different ways to form letters from both the vernacular language and English alphabet, and, of course, anything else the kids can imagine up.


For example the designers say, "it is not necessary for a child to connect A to APPLE. He is free to connect A to anything he wants for example an ANT. This is the greatest freedom offered by the toy as a tool that educates as well as engenders creativity."  If you like this project you may like the Learn Chinese with Mandagrams via The Little design book 

Bold and Beautiful!

I am quite excited about today's post! It's about somebody who currently works out of my own homestate - Gujarat, India. Not only that but also that she has an academic background from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad - one of my favorite design institutes in the world.

Presenting Bharati Prajapati. 

Bharati spent 10 years working in line with what she undertook as formal education - textile design. During this period, she spent a lot of time in and around Kutch, working and living with the local people, experiencing their vibrant lifestyles, their ethnic, strong culture put against the arid dry landscape typical to the region. One can see this stark contrast reflect in her work now where she beautifully translates her thoughts, vision and perception of these experiences into figurative expressions. The vivid and bright hues of textiles against a relatively light, bland and sparse background is characteristic to most of her paintings. One can't help but notice the beautiful minute details she brings out in all these paintings. The necklaces, earrings, hair clips, nose rings, tatoos, fabric design details, the arm bands, the bindi - each detail soaked in culture and ethnicity!

Although most of Bharati's work i came across was loyal to feminine beauty and the vibrant colors that she brings to life, there were a few exceptions that talk about rural life in general which include kids, men, domestic animals and nature. She commands a unique style of her own with perfect balance of colors - so vibrant yet so pleasant!

Image Credits : 

 Studio 3 India

Cancer Patients Aid Association

Saffron Art

&

Bharati Prajapati's own Facebook page. 

This Time Every Year

I decided to write this post more so because i fell in love with these photographs by Meena Kadri. I myself totally suck at flying kites as mine wouldn't even walk outside the parapets of our terrace. Hence, I have long given up harboring any enthusiasm for this festive day. Although these images have a totally different story to tell. I miss not being around to get my own pictures and to be with my friends and family. 

You'l find a lot of description and significance of Uttrayan once you google about it. Hence I wouldn't go into the formal details but make a brief mention of what it is like in my own words. 

In India, especially in the Western region, most houses have their private flat terraces where every year on January 14th, entire towns of family, friends, strangers, everybody crowds upon to have fun, eat, make merry and celebrate a holiday filled with friendly kite fights. There's music, there's hooting, there's good food and with all this in the background one can watch the sky change color 'like a rainbow in the glittering sun'. It's probably one of the most colorful and lively festivals of India. At night, after the sun sets, the party is still not over. People fly special kites that have small lamps lit inside, the energy and the fun flows into the night with some more music, dance, food and good times. The following one image is outside Meena's work, but i decided to include it anyway for you to be able to easily comprehend what i was talking about.

'Manja' is the string attached to the kite, that soars the skies, and engages in the friendly kite fights. For the pros, who cuts how many kites is a big deal about Uttrayan. For this purpose the 'Manja' is processed through rice and ground glass - literally, to make it strong. Different colored dyes are added simply to make it more colorful. At the end of the day, the more kites you might have cut the more wounded your hands would be owing to the glass coated strings. But the fun loving people don't mind this, greater the wounds, higher the score! It's more symbolic of the victories of the day.

Coming back to Meena Kadri. She is a practicing graphic designer/creative director and an academic in design. To me, also a very promising photographer, she has done her undergrad in Anthropology and a Masters in Design. Currently based out of New Zealand, professional pursuits have taken her travelling the globe to places like India, China, Berlin and other places in Europe. She interestingly reflects these excursions on her blog with some even more interesting reads related to social landscapes surrounding specific cultures and their connection with specific art forms and graphics. Check out more of her photographs here. Meena calls herself the 'Meanest Indian' - the witty pun just makes me smile. It's been nice to have come across your work Meena and thank you for the lovely pictures :)

Tribal Art Feature : Gond Paintings

An art form i have not come across as often before as off late. Not sure if it was my ignorance all this while or the new found popularity of the Gond paintings these days. I've recently seen them a lot at online galleries and even as collections in some art stores. Well, nonetheless i decided to explore it a bit and share it here. 

Gond paintings are freehand expressions of the gond tribe in Madhya Pradesh (a state in Central India).  Highly creative and imaginative, this community derives positive energy by surrounding itself with color and art inspired from nature and everyday living. The child like simplicity of these art works reflect the community's very own straightforwardness and simplicity. 

Characteristically these paintings are reflections of the tribes fantasies towards nature, forest and trees. Use of stripes, dots or any other geometric pattern to fill up various forms, is another character typical to this style of freehand art. Most of these paintings have multiple but very contrasting use of bright and lively colors. 

Originally, the Gond paintings were made only on walls and floors. These served ritualistic purposes as well as kept the surroundings harmonious and pure. Drawn during festivals or rituals connected with seasonal changes like sowing of crops, onset of rains, harvest or on a significant occasion in their families such as birth, marriage, pregnancy, death etc. 

With modernization, these paintings are now made for commercial purposes and i found them being sold at an average rate of about £200 on this site - although this may not be a definitive conclusion of the value of this art, but it's increasing popularity does not leave me any short of believing it!

The play of colors is so brilliant! Click on the image for a link to more of these beautiful pieces. Also, there is this other cool website that actually lists all the artists by name with a small description of their individual work. So many of them have the same second names indicative of art that must have been inherited from ancestors to entire families from brothers and sisters to husbands and wives. Imagine the whole family sitting together and soaking in color! 

What should i say

It's a new beginning... A new Year!

What should i say....

Gaping through space,

I see in frames, the year that past.

An Elephant had marched to tell the world a story...

A story

Of two hands so fine

That make things so precious and one of a kind.

Things so many…

Colorful and bright

It’s hard to decide which one is right!

Stories told from lands known and unknown,

Of people heard and unheard

We all

Thank you the same for hearing out so well.

It's been an amazing journey so far,

Each acknowledgment, a milestone of achievement!

There are yet miles to go, millions of stories to tell

Many more hearts to win and wonderful things to bring.

With a smile, we pop the bubbles this year

And toast

To all the beautiful people out there

To all the new stories and to all the new beginnings!

To old friends and new,

 Cheers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am sooo late with the wishes people, apologies!! Had hoped to put up the final product and wish you all in style :) But well, since that hasn't happened yet i'll go ahead and wish you guys with a small preview for now. Putting up the unfinished versions of the cards i made this year for all family and friends. The designs are inspired from the works of lithographer Sanna Annukka but are a hand painted versions of the same. The reprints will be on handmade recycled paper - good way to begin the new year i think! what say?

Wish you all have a thousand reasons to smile this new year and even more to celebrate! 

Lots of love and best wishes from The Green Elephant!

Happy New Year!!!!!

I hope to put up the final versions very soon!