Arts and crafts History in BD

Folk Art and Crafts traditional arts and crafts evolving over time through the age-old folk practices. The distinction between what constitutes art and craft is often blurred. Thus floor and wall paintings or nakshi kantha are included in folk art while the products of potters, carpenters and weavers, as well as articles made of bamboo, cane, shola, conch-shell, ivory, bell-metal are referred to as craft. There are, however, some folk arts that cannot be categorised separately. For instance, an earthen pot on which fish, leaves and other designs have been painted as well as cane mats with designs of trees, birds, mosques etc are a combination of both art and handicraft.

Folk art generally includes those articles that are traditionally made by communities of people to satisfy their religious, social and aesthetic needs. alpana or painting floors with rice paste, manasaghat, laksmir sara, mabgalghat etc are connected with social and cultural practices of the people and have no commercial value. However, chal chitra, paintings on canvas, which have religious connotations, are also a means of livelihood.

Most folk arts need very ordinary raw materials like clay, wood, cloth, thread, sola or spongewood, conch-shell, reeds, bamboo, cane and horns. However, some material is more expensive. Though gold jewellery does not fall into the category of folk art, ornaments made of copper, brass, and silver may well be included. The implements used for making folk artifacts are very simple. Even the village goldsmith, despite his use of the precious metal, also works with primitive tools, crouched on the ground over a small flame.

Much of women's folk art has been non-commercial, whereas the folk art produced by men has a commercial value attached to it. Thus, blacksmiths, potters, cobblers, painters, goldsmiths, brass-smiths, weavers earn their livelihood from what they produce. Traditionally, in the past, alpana artists or nakshi kantha needlewomen were working within the home and received no monetary recompense for their labour.

Folk art uses traditional motifs reflecting the land and its people. Different forms of folk art tend to repeat these common motifs. For instance, the lotus, the sun, the tree-of-life, flowery creepers etc are seen in paintings, embroidery, weaving, carving and engraving. Other common motifs are fish, elephant, horse, peacock, swastika, circle, waves, temple, mosque etc. Many of these motifs have symbolical meanings. For example, the fish represents fertility, the sheaf of paddy prosperity, the lotus purity and the swastika - usually more curvilinear than the Nazi symbol - good fortune.

Folk art may be divided into the following categories: (1) painting: floor painting, stage scenery, painted pots, masks, wall painting, tattooing and other body painting, chal chitra, karandichitra (Manasa tales on a sola canvas), fancy pots, fancy dolls etc; (2) embroidery: nakshi kantha, nakshi pakha, handkerchiefs, etc; (3) weaving: fancy mats, nakshi shika, fancy fans, baskets, flower vases; (4) modelling: dolls and toys, utensils, masks, moulds for making cakes and, sweets, ornaments; (5) engraving: wooden products, terracotta slabs, metal works; (6) inlaying: ornaments inlaid with gems, pearls, diamond and other precious stones, decorating buildings and houses with coloured glass and stones.