The Magic of African Arts And Crafts

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.

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.

Evidences of African art could be found as early as 500 BC, with carved rocks in the Sahara and sculptures from Nigeria. The use of bronze, brass and other metalwork, as well as the incorporation of terracotta, ivory and other embellishments were attributed to go back as far as 10th century AD, and usually reserved for royalty. African art forms that were not statues or figurines were still meant to be three-dimensional pieces. Decorative fabrics are meant to be worn, with the wearer becoming part of the art piece, while wall paintings, usually carved from wood, though flat, become part of the residence that it is hung in.

Most of the African arts and crafts resemble its tradition and culture. Each and every art piece resembles the daily life and culture of African peoples. And today those arts can be found in museums, one good example is African masks. 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 county or tribe, each design has its own kind of pattern and style. For example the Dan people of Ivory Coast and Liberia carve their masks with features such as wide fore head, flattened nose, full lips, and the strands of rope attached at the top of masks to make it look like hairs. The people of Congo in Punu make their masks with wood and paint it in white color, which resembles rich women. And they use these masks to scare off evil spirits and witches.

African baskets are another art which was made 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 basketry 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 mud cloth and suede to make bags. Even today African arts and crafts are in a great demand among people as they are very magnificent.

Herman has been collecting and dealing with African art and Crafts for a number of years. He has also assisted others in putting their own collections together. Visit www.theafricanartwheel.com where you will find an extensive resource on African art and Crafts.

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