(Madafo this is just FYI - I don't talk behind folk's
back -- smile)
Smile Sweet Melissa,
I hurried and got my post "corrected" just for you
(tee-hee). Thanks for these great ideas! As you know I
didn't do "African Art" either. I sure did do
Ancestral art! and Animal Spirit art - Silly me.
I have this BEAUTIFUL Greeting to pass on from Madafo
folks...it is just too good to keep to myself:
"May the spirit of the ancestors continue to shine the
light of Love, Peace and Happiness in your heart and
home...Happy New Year!"
They shine in my home everyday. If anyone wants me to
get into a discussion of all the GOOD in Ancestral
religious beliefs - just let me know. I'd be happy to
share (smile).
See Madafo's site:
http://www.madafo.com/madafo.htm
I won't be able to "shut up" about Madafo - I'll have
his CD soon and will talk more about it... I just have
to wait on the US mail now. He should
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/madafo
I'll keep checking back to let you know when his CD's
are back in stock.
Now for anyone else listening.... I know this is not
"authentic" - but the bleach technique works great for
mud cloth inspired designs. We used black and brown
construction paper. We made mud cloth inspired designs
to mat our mask relief prints. They could chose that
method - or cardboard printed line design (like the
bark cloth printed designs using banana leaves). I had
squares of cardboard cut and they tapped them into
black printing ink andprinted the borders on brown
paper (The prints were reduction prints in brown,
black and gold - and I did break the rules - some had
Fuschia! or Magenta! - take your pick).
Bark cloth painting of the Mbuti women
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibits/mbuti/index.html
Slide show with music. Painted barkcloths (pongo,
murumba) are used as ritual dress for the rites of
passage and spontaneous celebrations that mark the
rhythms of Mbuti life--wedding and funeral ceremonies,
and the festivities associated with the sacred molimo
festival and nkumbi and elima puberty initiations.
P.S. Don't grade my spellings on this post - I'm
trying to get laundry done - Matt is going back to
college tomorrow....and hubby wants me to get the
meatballs started for dinner.
