African art

nickyskye — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:18:15 -0800

Much of the extraordinary variety of traditional art from Africa comes from the countries in West and Central Africa, because of the availability of wood (often called exotic woods) and metal. Hamill Gallery has organized their excellent site to show the materials, including textiles, metals, beads used, as well as the names of the many tribes and categories, such as animals. The images are accompanied by information about the art. The Yale University Art Gallery also has a nice selection of African art with information. The Africa Image Library offers an archive of images, which give a little backdrop to the lives and environment of the artists and artisans in various parts of Africa. African Wood Figures / Fetishes / Dolls and Puppets Google book: African Sculpture By the late Ladislas Segy, who was a pioneer among Westerners writing about the meanings and ritual uses of West African art and gallery owner Traditional African art created before 1955 is considered "old", and usually quite costly, because many of the materials used, such as wood or barkcloth, were subject to decay by weather and bugs. [This was told to me by Merton Simpson.] African Art history resources on the web

A home decor revolution?

owhydididoit — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 10:23:54 -0800

What the world creates by hand. The sons of a Peace Corps member, Roberto and Andy Milk had a lifelong interest in artisans in developing countries. They teamed up with Armenia Nercessian, a UN human-rights officer, to create Novica.com, an online marketplace that sells the work of more than 10,000 craftspeople. While Novica operates chiefly in association with National Geographic, NPR also helps to promote them.

MetaFilter posts tagged with artisans

African art

A home decor revolution?