Cherial Art
Cherial Art Sai Kiran Varma. Workshop with Strings of Heritage
Mask making
Though literacy was not very common in ancient India, most of the people were educated. The oral traditions of story telling, plays and performance arts ensured that people in the villages were well versed in the scriptures, rules and principles of society and the religious practices. Scroll paintings played a major role in this education. Known by different names in different states, the artistic style and stories varied to suit the audience but the essence and spirit remained the same – The spread of our culture and traditions. Scroll paintings from Telangana are the Cherial scroll paintings, unique in the particular motifs, village life scenes and dressing. These paintings were traditionally 3 feet wide and 35 to 40 feet in length, opening up like a scroll or a film roll. Accompanied by some music, this was the only entertainment for the villagers. The stories such as epics of Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Puranas, Devi Mahatme were depicted in the scrolls by artists, scenes were separated by floral borders and opened up to reveal the story in a linear manner. Intricate and beautiful, with bright red background and colours made from natural sources, this was widely patronized. But now with increasing affluence, unfortunately we don’t place enough value on this precious art form. For the lack of patrons, this has now dwindled to single panels for home décor.
Cherial Art Sai Kiran Varma. Workshop with Strings of Heritage
Cherial Art -Mask making Sai Kiran Varma. Workshop with Strings of Heritage
Cherial art is not only about scroll painting but also masks and dolls. From these scroll paintings, characters were adapted for masks, general characters such as man, woman, cow, tiger etc which were used in plays and for story telling. These masks are again prepared on a base of tamarind seed paste mixed with saw dust. The features are made in free hand, allowed to dry thoroughly, covered with a cloth, painted a base coat in white, after which they are painted in bright colours of green, red, blue or yellow. A fun activity for kids and grown up alike, the material is much like clay and easy to work with.
Cherial Art Sai Kiran Varma. Workshop with Strings of Heritage
Cherial Dolls are made from the locally available light weight wood called ‘Poniki’. The three dimensional figure is created with tamarind seed paste mixed with saw dust. These are used to create features on the dolls. This is then wrapped in cloth pieces and a coating of liquid white lime is applied. This is the base over which colours are applied. The colours bring in the beauty of the work with the stylized features and ornaments.
Cherial Art Sai Kiran Varma. Workshop with Strings of Heritage. Pic Credit- Spandana
Cherial Art Sai Kiran Varma. Workshop with Strings of Heritage
Lots of Twinkles to all of you.
Anu
PS- Strings of Heritage conducts Cherial mask making and scroll painting workshops in collaboration with the artist, Sai Kiran Varma.