#decorative art

[uwmspeccoll]

Decorative Sunday

The Warli are an indigenous tribe of western India, living in the mountain and coastal areas along the Maharashtra-Gujarat border north Mumbai. Their artistic traditions date back 5000 years, with patterns of circles, triangles, and squares that accrete to form dynamic natural forms like expressive, fluid pictograms. Today, these patterns may be found on the walls and floors of both domestic and community spaces in Warli communities.

In The Deep, a limited-edition, hand-bound book, silkscreen-printed by hand on recycled cotton paper with unique cover marbling, and published in Chennai, India by Tara Books in 2020, the brothers Mayur and Tushar Vayeda adapt the Warli style of their community to present the dynamic relationships between human habitation and the depths of the sea. Th e text Arun and Gita Wolf is derived from an oral narrative by the Vayeda brothers.

View more Decorative Sunday posts.

[daughterofchaos]

A Lady, said to be Elizabeth Coombe, cabinet panel, British, ca. 17th century, satin worked with silk and metal thread +

[disease]

TIFFANY STUDIOS | 'POND LILY' MIRROR PATINATED BRONZE, MIRRORED GLASS CIRCA 1910 — 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 x 10 3/4"

[alexdreamart]

Warframe fanart stylised after cinematics in The Sacrifice questline

[norapotwora]

Here's a commission of Church Grim with spider lillies!

The Church Grim is a mythical creature from English folklore, that is said to be a guardian spirit that protects churches and churchyards. It is believed to take the form of a large black dog, often with glowing eyes, and is said to be the spirit of the first person to be buried in the churchyard. The Church Grim is said to be a friendly and protective spirit, but can also be mischievous and even vengeful towards those who disrespect the church or disturb its peace. The belief in the Church Grim is still present in some rural areas of England, although it has largely faded from popular culture in modern times.

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #WorldJellyfishDay 🪼:

A "Méduse" (#ellyfish) stoneware lamp foot

Designed by Joseph Mougin (France, 1876-1961)

H 46 cm

[improbable-implosions]

Another multi-parter for both thighs across the main seam of a pair of jeans! This is a VERY common canvas for sashiko 'round this household, seeing as both Razz and I have pretty thorough thighs. Luckily, having learned my lesson (somewhat) from the giant patches in the same area I did previously, I split this into two designs, even if the patch fabric itself was one piece. Both designs are from wrenbirdart's stick and stitch collections, barring that little section on the first one I pencilled myself, as the main pattern was slightly too small.

First up we've got this genuinely delightful set of little asterisks, formed out of vertical, horizontal, and two diagonal sets of stitches. The first set of stitches immediately make clear that I really should be more careful about my math when I'm trying to duplicate the wrenbirdarts patterns onto my own dissolvable backing. Sure, that set all the way on the right is off by increasing increments of a quarter inch with each set, but I actually don't mind that look too badly in the end. The general look of all the eight-pointed overlapping crosses works super well, and I may take some inspiration from the mildly-fumbled pattern on that hand-pencilled section to make an alternating pattern of standard crosses and the asterisks, in the future.

Secondly, there's this pine forest design! I really had a love hate relationship with this one, as the pattern itself is SUPER pretty, I mean, look at that final picture! It's so beautiful! The major downside, though, is that it doesn't lend a lot of opportunities to load up straight stitches in a row. As you can kinda see in the progress shots, you do that central "coordinate grid" of a given pine top, then go quarter by quarter, filling in the other stitches, one by one, individually. Which, to me, is SUPER boring, I much prefer to load up a bunch of straight stitches in a row, then pull them all through, smoothing the fabric afterwards. So, partially because I wanted to get it done and over with as fast as possible, and partially because my jean shorts were in DIRE need of fast repairs before I could wear them in the (then incoming) summer heat, I somewhat sped my way through the pattern, in hopes that I can later come back to this pattern, and develop a more-loadable version that still keeps the pine-like beauty of the finished piece here.

[solcattus]

Lute Player set in Cartouche with Putti

By Sebastian Lucius

[waldires]

Frame, design 16th century

[liturgical-agenda]

Symbolist triptych, 1887 by Clément Mère

[wormyorchids]

Calcium Ornament is up on my sh0p!

[uwmspeccoll]

Decorative Sunday

Kyle Meyer (b. 1985), a New York-based photographer and fiber artist with an MFA from the Parsons School of Design, has worked with the marginalized gay community in Eswatini since 2009, where homosexuality is illegal. The photographic essay Interwoven is his debut monograph exploring the challenges faced by gay men in this hyper-masculine culture. Edited by Santa Fe art historian Chelsea Weathers with an interview of Meyer by art history professor Andy Campbell, Interwoven was published in Santa Fe by Radius Books and New York by Yossi Milo in 2020.

These portraits fuse digital and Polaroid photography with traditional Swazi fibers, giving voice to silenced members of the LGBTQ community. Tension between the necessity of the individuals to hide their queerness and their desire to express themselves openly inform both the subject and the means of fabricating the work. Each piece from the Interwoven series is labor-intensive, taking days or sometimes weeks to complete. Meyer often photographs his subjects wearing a traditional headwrap made from a vibrantly colored textile typically associated with women. He then produces a print of the portrait and shreds it, together with the fabric from the headwrap, weaving the strips into patterned three-dimensional works. The final portrait presents each person's individuality while using the fabric as a screen to protect their identity. Meyer writes:

It would be taboo for men to wear these head-wraps in public, as that would indicate homosexual tendencies. . . . Each man’s gaze is directly on the viewer as if demanding attention to their true identity while still being hidden behind the fabric, which is a metaphor for their culture suppression. This masked, submissive state is typical in their everyday lives. Through this series, I aim to channel a voice for these silenced men and embracing an otherwise frowned-upon identity with a sense of pride without neglecting the reality of their every-day existence.

View more posts of Radius Books.

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[daughterofchaos]

Bouillon Julien in Paris, France +

[disease]

“RITUAL FLAYING KNIFE” | C. 1407–10 SINO-TIBETAN | DERGE SCHOOL | YONGLE PERIOD [iron alloy with gold and silver inlay | H: 6 7/8”]

Ceremonial weaponry was used in tantric rituals to combat obstacles to enlightenment, such as ignorance and uncontrolled passions.

[alexdreamart]

I played through the newest quest in Warframe and I wanted to draw fanart for a while now. It took forever as I always draw lineart on max zoom focused on details that don't really matter hah. One thing about warframe quests that I adore is how much depth and focus on humanity is in most of them.

[charlesreeza]

The Cauchie House - Rue des Francs 5, 1040 Brussels

This Art Nouveau house was designed and built by the architect, painter, and designer Paul Cauchie and his wife, Lina, in 1905, the year they were married. It served as their private residence and workshop.

The house is only 6 meters (20 feet) wide. The facade was meant to advertise Cauchie's sgraffito artwork and Lina's art classes. Cauchie created hundreds of sgraffito murals in Belgium.

Photos by Charles Reeza, 2023