Saturday, August 20, 2011

Woven Rug Collaborative Project

Woven Rugs

I found the link above in a magazine and started to think about incorporating this project into the classroom. I love to teach recycled projects and it is always nice to find one that teaches a new discipline and looks awesome in the end.

Looks like it is time to start collecting old t-shirts.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

India and Art

Kashmiri rugs can take 2-3 months to complete, all hand crafted, the first is Pashmina
This is silk
Fabric arts


Amazing architecture at a Mosque in delhi

Light shining through Jallies

The process of making a jaali

defaced Hindu gods re-used in the muslim site Qutb Minar



The Taj was based on this
Inlay at the Taj
Islamic calligraphy inlay

gorgeous architecture


Classical dance- performing arts Thekaddy I could have watched this all day long it is really amazing!



Handicraft umbrella

Gorgeous south Indian architecture

South Indian details


Onam Pookalam flower art the family even collected flowers so that I could make a pookalam with them!

We were having lunch waiting for the monsoon rains to stop...
The Munnar tea plantations were amazing!

Calligraphic carvings

More amazing Kerala traditional architechture:

 Cullinary Art, this veg meal was one of our favorites our family made in honor of our visit even though Onam was a month away.



Hand carved works at Aksherdam, unfortunately we were unable to bring cameras in the Hindu temple most likely in light of recent and ancient destruction of Hindu temples.
 Aksherdam is a new construction and we were told by our guide that most ancient Hindu temples such as Qutb Minar, have been destroyed by bombs and raids many Hindu temples have been torn down and pieces re-used to make Islamic Mosques.

The boat ride in Aksherdam was amazing it highlighted the History of: Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Engineering, etc in India. It is really mind blowing to comprehend how advanced the Indian civilization was in Ancient times. It seems people are more willing to give credit for amazing world feats to outer space aliens than just to accept the fact that people WERE in fact advanced in the ancient world. Of course we all understand that this view of the ancients comes from the theory of evolution.