Vision For change

VISION FOR CHANGE
by Amrutha Maniyalil
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Contents
Acknowledgments:
Preface
1.The origin of Madhubani folk art.
2.Evolution of Madhubani art.
3.The original and the adapted art form.
4.How did I create this style?
5.Art Works
Bibliography
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To my loving mother
To whom I have always been faithful for her love and
blessings she showered upon me.
I dedicate this book to you.
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Acknowledgments
I am incredibly grateful to my family, colleagues,
teachers and supervisors, who have given me the
support and encouragement to complete this book.
With their constant feedback and patience, I was
successfully able to complete my book.
Also, I am extremely thankful to all those who
dedicated their precious time to give me ideas on my
planning of the book and its development.
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PREFACE
VISION FOR CHANGE
This handbook gives the basic information on Indian
Madhubani folk art form and the modern variations of
it.
It gives you the motivation to do something different
in any field that you are passionate about.
It tells about how we get inspired by the simple things
around our life and how it motivates us to make a
change by doing so.
Vision for change is a book for all the communities
and the ones who are interested in art work.
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WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE MADHUBANI ART FORM?
The original Madhubani art form is one of the main folk-art
forms that have been used in India for a long time. It’s one of
the most popular folk-art forms of India that has survived for
generations and has been preserved through the influence of
modern art. This art form originated in Bihar, in Mithila that’s
why Madhubani is also called Mithila painting. Madhubani art
includes different styles like Tantrik, Kohbar, Bharni, Godna,
Katchni, etc. It is a simple form of folk art that was used in India
during the early stages of dynasty rulers. Some of the paintings
depict the scenes of the life of kings, royal families and cultural
events.
If one sees correctly, they can see complex pattern designs and
geometrical patterns on every space with lines and double
borders. The colours and the paints are derived from natural
resources like flowers, sandalwood, rice, mud, etc. These
paintings often illustrate high thoughts and hopes of people.
Madhubani is a traditional artwork it gives out strong messages
for the viewers in an elaborated way.
Madhubani folk is used to depict religious traditional festivals
and customs in the form of patterns and double linings. The main
importance is given to the traditional aspect of the painting.
Paintings are done mainly on cultural aspects like celebrations
and the main festivals.
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EVOLUTION OF MADHUBANI ART
The original form of Madhubani art has decreased with the use
of modernization but the original paintings are still done in its
birthplace Bihar. The tradition of the paintings and have been
passed down from one generation to the other for centuries.
Earlier Madhubani paintings ware used only to decorate walls
but now this art form is loved by all and is used in a variety of
fields like pottery, ornaments, textiles, designing. It is now
created everywhere from the traditional mud walls to the
canvases, common household items and many more.
Now, the modern Madhubani art is given various fusions to itself
it’s getting bigger, wider and modern with time.
Madhubani has been done to portray a variety of things, from
giving awareness against a social or an environmental issue to
relating simple common events of life. Madhubani art textiles
are also giving employment and jobs for the people who are
interested in it.
The print works of the original Madhubani are used to take
various references in the medium of Studying art too.
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MY ADAPTATION OF MADHUBANI STYLE
My adaptation of Madhubani art is purely my passion towards this art
form and knowing about the rich culture of India, the main reason for
this adaptation was creating something new in the field of folk art
which has not been explored by the many in the community.
The main part of this adaptation is the way I have used my style in
illustrations and designs using various inspirations from
mehndi/henna designs. (Mehndi/henna is done on the hands and feet
of women for special occasions like weddings and family functions in
India).
My main inspirations for the paintings
that I made in this adaptation were the
tribal patterns and the formations from
the African continental tribes, childhood
memories of seeing cravings and idols
of god Hindu culture and the colourful
Rangolis designs, etc are still with me.
Hearing Indian folk art, the first thing
that comes to my mind is the colourful
storytelling of ancient culture. I used to
think that folk art is something that is just a piece of historic art that
represents some images from the past.
But time made me judge myself and look through this beautiful piece
which now I rejoice that I did through all these years.
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HOW DID I CREATE THIS STYLE?
I had a habit of doing the head portion of the human figures bigger and
this actually gave me a lot of frustration on getting it right every time
I did the same mistake.
Because in visual arts when you are expected to do human figures you
have to have a strict correct portion of each portion of the body to keep
in mind.
And each time when my figures were less accurate on the head portion,
I started to wonder why I always did it in the first place. Then, after a
lot of brainstorming I got to understand that the head portion is the
space where the person looks at when they first view a picture.
This led me to think that unconsciously I was trying to express the
facial expression of every character through the head portion and I not
being able to express it through words had taken the facial expressions
as a place to express so.
My first journey began through this amazing piece of art style when I
had started work by taking part in the Khala Khoda (Black horse)
festival which is taken by our school every year for the creative
students and for those who are interested in it.
It’s held in the prince of wales garden in Mumbai city in India
Thousands of people come to visit the gardens seeing the variety of
displays/installations put up by different schools, universities and
groups of people. Our display during that time was related to Indian
folk art and this indeed gave me time to develop my own style of art
by taking reference from original Madhubani art.
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THE ORIGINAL AND THE ADAPTED FORM OF THE ARTWORKS
This picture here shows the original art form of Madhubani here
the theme of the painting is showed in form of figures and double
background lines.
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This picture here shows the adapted form made by me in a mix of
modern and the traditional styles. Here, I have removed the
traditional tough borders and designs for the painting and instead
mixed it with lots of creative and simple designs.
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This recreational painting made by the artist is a pure sense of
natural traditional work and talent. This painting over here shows
the dancing movements of the woman in rhythm and movements
causing her traditional clothes to flutter in lovely movements.
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Here, my adapted form of the same painting has tried to capture
the movements of the dancing woman and I have adjusted the
background with lighter and lovely colours, using contrast and
colourful colours.
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Here, the woman is shown in form of royalty with her jewellery;
her background is mixed up with vibrant colours, patterns and
various intricate designs.
It shows off the action of a very rich and modest woman.
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The same style of forms has been used to make the painting but
instead of the usual matching colours I have tried to make it lighter
and more different that the most paintings by adding more
contrasting and less intricate designs in my own style.
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The scene here portrayed is the farewell of the bride from her own
house to the husband’s house, the same ancient traditions are
portrayed her with beautiful classic designs and block styling for
the edges.
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My version of the same painting shows the creativity from my side
rather than taking up the whole painting design, here I have tried
to as simple ad delicate as possible to actually give audience on a
proper proportion to see.
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Here is the original Madhubani painting of a woman in which she is
actually milling the hard rice as per the traditions she is clothed in a
saree.
She is made into the figure of the painting with many complex yet
proportion designs.
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Here, I have tried something different instead of the usual complex
designs, I have given the painting a rich designed background but
plain and colourful clothing for the woman by keeping it simple and
natural without any intricate jewellery.
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Here is the original Madhubani painting given it shows the
expressions of mother’s love towards her child and it has a sunset
yellow background to match with it. The following painting shows
Krishna and Yashoda love portrayed over in the painting.
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The same painting has been done with the refence to the figure of
the mother and the child, but here the basic has changed and the
simple classic style has been given to the painting.
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The painting shows the culture of India Because the woman over
here is dressed particularly in an all traditional dress and seeming
to enjoying the movements of dance while her huge frock is going
back and fro because of her movements she makes.
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The same style of the movement and the posture is used in the
paintings but all the while the colours and the variety in both
designs are seen. Simple, but at the same time recognisable to a
level with empty spaces and colourful background.
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Here, the given painting shows the woman dancing in her
traditional wear, there seems to be use of repeated colours with
more of primary colour usage. This makes the painting much
brighter and visually appealing to the audience.
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This painting made some changes and instead of one character I have added
three characters dancing on the beat of the music with their frocks and
traditional shawls.
But the posture of the women is same with the other painting and it’s been
taken as a reference for this one.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
A.L.Basham, ed. A Cultural History of india. n.d. printed.
Cultural india. n.d. <https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-art/paintings/madhubani.html>.
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15in-x-11in/>.
https://www.artranked.com/topic/Madhubani. n.d. <https://www.artranked.com/topic/Madhubani>.
https://www.coolantarctica.com/fezh/Novica/Art-Gallery---Paintings---Madhubani.php. 2009-present. Paul ward.
<https://www.coolantarctica.com/fezh/Novica/Art-Gallery---Paintings---Madhubani.php>.
https://www.culturalindia.net/indian-art/paintings/madhubani.html. n.d. <https://www.culturalindia.net/indianart/paintings/madhubani.html>.
https://www.indiamart.com/infotech-painting/mithila-paintings-on-hand-made-paper.html. 1996-2019. indiaMART
interMESH. <https://www.indiamart.com/infotech-painting/mithila-paintings-on-hand-made-paper.html>.
Madhubani. 2018. <http://colorofindia.com/madhubani-art.htm>.
“Madhubani painting on canvas.” 2018. Madhubani paintings.
<https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=E%2buFNo5B&id=E3AC70016EFE6E07B5A93D0E6C
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shaadisaga. 2018. <https://www.shaadisaga.com/photo/336882>.
tumblr.com. n.d.
<https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=1Sa3vRiU&id=F37B37C3E9580B458B6272E0863E93
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1e698e7d241e9ca9cf1ce127bc2da3%2ftumblr_or39y6frUr1qcnooeo1_1280.>.
tumblr.com. n.d.
<https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=1Sa3vRiU&id=F37B37C3E9580B458B6272E0863E93
A1A7C8C03B&thid=OIP.1Sa3vRiUr5qy4abmBu9exwHaJ4&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2f66.media.tumblr.com%2faa
1e698e7d241e9ca9cf1ce127bc2da3%2ftumblr_or39y6frUr1qcnooeo1_1280.>.
www.indiamart.com. 1996-2019. IndiaMART InterMESH. <https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/madhubani-paintingwoman-in-mathura-8569768248.html>.
www.lightspacetime.art. n.d. <https://www.lightspacetime.art/all-women-2017-art-exhibition-special-merit-mc-thru-z/>.
www.lightspacetime.art. n.d. <https://www.lightspacetime.art/all-women-2017-art-exhibition-special-merit-mc-thru-z/>.
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