As many of you know, I taught for two years in Mali (West Africa) and am
currently teaching in Tunisia (Northern Africa). As was mentioned, there is
so much diversity and beauty in "African" art that it is a disservice to
simply do a project and label it African or feel like you have adequately
covered Africa. On my website, I have a page devoted to the arts - both art
and music. Many of the pieces I currently own, while others I have
photographed during my travels in Mali. Some things that immediately come to
my mind are the Bologan "Mud Cloth" which is dyed with natural dyes and the
Coca Cola car and tin kora players - all created from recycled aerosol and
coke cans. Painting on glass was also fun. I'll be happy to explain more for
anyone interested. In Tunisia, the art climate isn't as exciting to me, but
some things produced here are weavings (silk and wool) - both knotted and
woven, tin repousé, ornate bird cages in Sidi Bou Saïd, blown glass with
puffy-paint like decorations, fez hats, mosaics (Tunisia was the
"breadbasket" of Rome, and has lots of great sites with spectacular
mosaics), and some wonderful folk art low-fire pottery in neutral tones with
animals and women being the favorite subjects. Hope this gives a few ideas
of what is created in two of Africa's many countries!
Melissa
On 1/3/04 2:41 AM, "Judy Decker" <judydeckeriad@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Excellent point Michal! I clicked "send" too soon. We
> do a disservice to all the people of Africa if we just
> teach "African Art".
