Title: An Introduction to folk art
Course: EN_History of culture and art > Section: 6. Folk art, ornaments and patterns

What is folk art and how different it can be around the world. What is the characteristic of Estonian Folk art and how pattern and ornaments are used.

We ask you futhermore to get familiar with the history of design...

What is meant by "Folk-art"?

Which terms included into the shape can you identify?

Definition searched

Definition searched

The art, handicrafts, and decorative ornament produced by people who have had no formal art training but have an established tradition of styles and craftsmanship. A country or region may have a characteristic folk art.

From: “Oxford Reference”: Oxford Reference is the premier online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias.: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095826444)

Folk art and visual arts

Remember that the visual arts or fine arts are primarily purely aesthetic. In contrast to that, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative and characterized by a naive style, in which traditional rules of proportion and perspective are not employed.

Folk art, predominantly functional or utilitarian visual art created by hand (or with limited mechanical facilities) for use by the maker or a small circumscribed group and containing an element of retention—the prolonged survival of tradition. Folk art is the creative expression of the human struggle toward civilization within a particular environment through the production of useful but aesthetic buildings and objects.

https://www.britannica.com/art/folk-art-visual-arts#ref501035

Complete during the following chapters the exercises 1 to 3 on the worksheet "Folk Art".

Folk art and “Folklore”

Folk art in a more broader sense than visual arts has close points of contact with the concept of "folklore".

The “Folklore” is understood as “The traditional beliefs, legends, and customs current among the common people; and the study of them.”

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095826484

The American Folklore Society states: Folklore is our cultural DNA.
https://whatisfolklore.org/

Folk art as a object of art history

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_art

Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of Folklore.

Folk and traditional arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community.

In the course of the development of art history in the 19th century, the Austrian art historian Alois Riegl coined the term "folk art" in his observations. (translated with „popular art“ in Austria)

https://austria-forum.org/af/AEIOU/Volkskunst/Volkskunst_english

 „The discovery of popular art as a field of academic study corresponds in time with its supposed disappearance as a form of popular culture in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Its promotion and the compilation of its objects was originally inspired by economic and educational motives. In line with the theories of primitivism, popular art was regarded as a timeless, pre-modern form of expression which was expected to contribute to the revival of national arts, popular taste and the cultivation of national identities. This approach was at the base of a broad reception of popular art in the visual and applied arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries”

What counts as folk art?

In the original understanding according to Alois Riegl, this includes aesthetic and creative forms of expression beyond the "classical" artistic understanding.

- Folk dance, folk songs, ... as forms of expression of folk culture
- Arts and crafts, like:
- woodcarvers
- ceramics
- textile art
- local arts and crafts

Later the use of the term was limited to visual arts, present in folklore museums. Folk art is thus an expression of

- values
- social orders
- collective memory

The different styles are influenced by these factors as much as they depend on the materials, production processes and techniques.

 Folk art preserves styles based on techniques, ornaments and reproductions from "high culture", which in turn are also adopted by high culture in works and exhibitions.

According to: 'Volkskunst (english), AEIOU, in: Austria-Forum, das Wissensnetz,https://austria-forum.org/af/AEIOU/Volkskunst/Volkskunst_english, 25. März 2016' (retrieved: 28.09.2021)

A slideshow on folk art

To get an impression, see the following slight show.

Wikimedia

What actually is folk art?

One last approach to Folk art from the Museum of International Folk Art in Sante Fé, New Mexico, United States that underlines that there are many different views possible.

It is difficult to find a uniform definition, but the following criteria may allow to state what folk art is:

- decorative or utilitarian
- designed for everyday use or reserved for high ceremonies
- handmade, but can include also new, synthetic, or recycled components
- made for use within a community or for sale as a form of income and empowerment
- traditional, but, as traditions are dynamic, it can change over the time

- It reflects shared cultural aesthetics and social issues.
- The skill may be acquired formally, informally or self-taught.

In a broader sense it may include intangible forms of like dance, song, poetry, and foodways.

https://www.internationalfolkart.org/learn/what-is-folk-art.html

National Folk art in Estonia

Read about National Identity and Folk art in Estonia:

https://discover-estonia.com/traditional-estonian-crafts/

__________

National Folk art in Estonia_true or false.h5p

Task and Reflection

Get an overview on Variety of Estonian traditional crafts and folk art.

1.    What is the aim of the organization?

2.    What are the activities?

3.    Which crafts and techniques are belonging to Estonian traditional crafts?

https://folkart.ee/en/audiovisual/ : Estonian traditional craft techniques

 Reflection:

Which role plays folk art in your life?

Is Folk art important for designer?

 Find out, which are the most used motifs and symbols in Estonian folk art!

Which colors are mostly used?

http://estonia-paradise-of-the-north.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-enchanting-world-of-estonian-folk.html

Video

National Design presented

Task

- Watch the video and explain how traditional elements where presented in a modern setting!

1. Which elements?
2. How they are presented?

- See the chapter "Style elements in Fashion" : $@BOOKVIEWBYIDCH*1946480*142586@$

Folk art around the world

To see which differences are between folk art around the world, you can get a a first global impression in the following video.

Folk art around the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyherXpkwQk

Task:

Match the characteristics to the appropriate folk-art styles below.

Folk art around the world_Keyword_drag and drop.h5p

Research

The internet provides information around folk art in European Nations. Please, start a small research to find out, what are the main characteristics in the folk-arts of these countries:

- Norway
- Sweden
- Finland
- Hungary
- Austria
- Germany
- ... or others

Use such keywords as
"Dalecarlian horse, Rosemaling, Ore-Mountain-Fok art, Tracht, Embroidery folk art ..."

Pattern

It's time to review: In the previous units you have seen several examples composed of different patterns.

What is a pattern?

An explication in 30 seconds

Pattern is a visual element of art works. It is constructed by repeating or echoing its basic element(s) to communicate a sense of balance, harmony, contrast, rhythm, or movement.

In art there are existing two basic types of pattern: natural pattern (unpredictable) and man-made pattern (predictable).

Task - Pattern in daily life

Pattern in daily life

Look around you. Are there pattern?

Have a look at your living room, at everyday objects, your most visited websites AND outside, your surrounding rural landscape and nature.

- Take photographs of at least five pattern around you, inside your house/flat and outside.
- Make sketches of two different pattern: a natural one and a man-made one.
- Find at least three patterns from other cultures.: Search in the internet
- And at last: what pattern defines you? Think about your daily habits.

Use the worksheet for this unit.

Construction of pattern

Construction of pattern

All starts with a dot, line or shape!

See and try this as an relaxing exercise.

How to draw a realistic pattern

In the following you get a deeper introduction into the construction of pattern.

Work through the following sections from the contents of the project "Designstem":

- Texture and structure
- Translation
- Scaling
- Rotation
- Reflection

https://designstem.github.io/projects/patterns/#textures-and-structures

In the further course of your training you will get an insight into the construction of pattern with design-software.

Pattern in artworks

Pattern as a principle of the composition of art works are elementary.

Examples for pattern in artworks are:

Use of pattern in artworks.h5p

Finally, watch the following video:

The principle of art: Pattern

Task_"Seeing is believing"

See the artwork of Judith Schaechter :

"Seeing is Believing" (2008)

Introduction:

Glass is one of the oldest man-made materials in the world. The
invention of glassblowing enabled artisans to mold glass into nearly any
form and inspired new decorative techniques. That way mosaic glasses were done and glass was prized and traded along the Silk Road. Throughout the seventh century, Mediterranean regions made technological advances in glassmaking, including the invention of stained glass. In gothic era the hugh cathedrals were decorated with glass windows. The design became much more elaborate with the rose windows.

Later, in Renaissance, the cristallo, colourless glass was invented and from then on the use of glass turned to functionality, influenced by technological advance. But, in the 20th century artists turned back to use glass for their experimental art works, like modern painters as Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, and Henri Matisse. They used stained glass as a medium to experiment with light and color.

 Take a close look now at the details of the glass-window “Seeing is Believing” from the MAD: Museum of Art and Design, New York

Its an artwork as a reference to the medieval stained-glass windows and it is permanently presented at the MAD.

• What patterns do you see? Are there any lines, shapes, or colors that repeat?

“Natural light constantly activates Schaechter’s kaleidoscopic design, illuminating the two hundred unique, geometric shapes, which can be seen collectively as a reimagining of the medieval rose window, or as individual patterns evoking the infinite variability of nature.”

MAD-Education:  https://madmuseum.org/sites/default/files/staticedTRG%20GLASS%202020-09-21%20FINAL.pdf

Further reading: geometry of Islamic design

Pattern used in Islamic design

The complex geometry of Islamic design by Eric Brough (5:06)

Ornaments

Get inspired by Owen Jones “The Grammar of Ornaments”

https://youtu.be/2mkzWE3sXW0?list=TLGGv-JWmEomeWYxMDA5MjAyMQ

Even today, the "Grammar of Ornaments" is still considered a fundamental work for designers.

The full book is online on: https://archive.org/details/grammarornament00Jone

What is an “Ornament”?

The term "Ornament"

An ornament (from Latin ornare "to adorn, decorate, arrange, equip") is a usually repeating, often abstract or abstracted pattern with a symbolic function in itself. Ornaments can be found on textile fabrics, buildings, wallpapers.

 Ornament - Pattern

Pattern generally refers to a structure that is characterised by repeated or parallel uniform occurrence. Patterns can consist of ornaments.

(A pattern also can be a way of thinking, shaping or behaving or a corresponding course of action characterised by uniform repetition.)

 Ornament - Decoration

Decoration are measures for the beautification, visual enhancement or wealth-representing design of rooms, objects, etc.
Decoration is the purpose for which patterns are used.

Thus, ornaments are often components or motifs in the decoration/decorative arts, for example in arts and crafts.

Ornament - Arabesque

Arabesques are certain types of ornaments that are especially widespread in Islamic culture. Since the prohibition of depiction there does not permit living beings, a wide variety of tendril ornaments have developed. They developed from late antique, Hellenistic models.

The area-filling, naturalistic acanthus tendrils of the Renaissance are also called arabesques.
The term comes from the Italian: arabesco and means "moorish, oriental".

Characteristics of Ornaments

- decorative function
- build an illusion neither in time nor in spatial depth
- do not narrate any action, are only limited to the area
- can be naturalistic and sculptural in character
- two types: representational and sculptural ornaments and abstract or stylised ones

Functions

- accentuate
- structure
- fill
- frame

Read further: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornament_(art)

The diversity of ornaments

Ornaments come in the form of flower-like motifs, circles, stars and mysterious spirals, picturesque mosaic shapes, patterns as if from a wrought-iron grid, rosettes.

Ceramic vessels decorated with ornaments can be found as early as the Stone Age. Flowers and leaf ornaments are common in churches, cathedrals, cloisters and other buildings on columns or oriels as well as on ceilings (stucco) or house entrances.
Ornaments may also include abstract forms, such as traditional clan patterns or tribal symbols, to indicate the affiliation of the wearer. They are particularly common in Islamic art (because of the ban on pictures there) as arabesques.

Task

1. Get an overview on the variety of ornaments through the different style-epochs!

- Read the pdf "Ornaments" with photos and explications from Wikipedia! (pg. 13 ff)

2. Are there ornaments around you? (Use the accompanying work sheet "Folk art")

- Look around your living and working environment and identify objects that have ornaments on them.
- Take photos of them and describe the ornament(s).
- Try sketching an ornament.