Friendly Friday Blog Challenge – Time Capsule

Tãby Church, Stockholm

Almost a decade ago, I was wandering around the backblocks of Stockholm’s upmarket outer suburbs and discovered a place of significance in Viking times. A living Time Capsule.

Rune Stone Causeway in Stockholm

At around 100 metres long, the so-called Jarlabanke’s bridge, in Täby, Sweden, is a causeway or bridge, lined with ancient Runestones.

It was designed to be an extravagant reminder of the power and prestige of a Viking chieftain named Jarlabanke Ingefastsson, who owned much of this area, way back in the 11th century.

It is presumed that the purpose of the runes is to catch the eye of passing travellers and impress them. This site must have been especially significant as it was also the place where three Viking families, battled it out for supremacy of the area.

Wooden Viking Scultpure

Four remaining Rune stones line the causeway as some were moved to other locations. One Runestone was taken to Greece by voyaging Vikings who worked as mercenaries for the Varangian Guard.

Another stone stands at the threshold of the church and depicts two serpent creatures enclosing a Latin cross. This was considered to be evidence of Chieftain Jarlabanke’s wish to ensure his entry to the afterlife. Perhaps he was undecided about which religion to follow and chose to hedge his bets honouring both Christian and Pagan practices.

Symbols of the old religion and Christianity are often found together on rune stones, evidence of transition in belief systems.

Wikipedia

Rich Medieval Ceiling Decorations in Swedish Churches

The Church adjacent to the Runsetone Causeway has a rather plain exterior which belies the treasures hidden inside. Here you see but a glimpse of the richly decorated ceiling.

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The interior of the Church

Older churches in Scandinavia often have frescos, or traditional art, decorating their ceilings. They were painted in the day when many members of the congregation were illiterate and this pictorial representations of bible stories was used as a way to communicate religious teachings.

Norwegian Rosemaling in Churches

At times, Lutheran Priests lamented the striking beauty of the frescoes and decorative art, especially that seend in Norway and known as Rosemaling. Certain priests ordered for the rich decoration to be painted over in plain colours, or whitewashed. This was, presumably, to stop the congregations’ mind wandering over the artful decorations and allowed them to focus instead on the Priest’s words.

The art within Scandinavian Churches gives but a glimpse into the past, a Time Capsule of historic Times.

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The ceiling, walls, pews, and altar inside the Church in Lesja, Norway, and the fresco near Trondheim are yet another example of a time capsule.

Student Time Capsules

When my sons started high school, they buried a box of items – a piece of writing, some questions to their future selves, and some small object of significance to them in a box to be opened on their graduation day. Another snippet of the past in the form of a Time capsule.

What would you put in a Time capsule?

Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Theme

The theme for this fortnight’s blogging challenge is

TIME CAPSULE

Document what you might put in your own time capsule in words or photographs, share a snippet of your local area’s or chosen point of history, somewhere you visited or something of interest that has been swept up in time.

Remember that this challenge is not restricted to photography. It can be a recipe, story, (fiction or non-fiction), or art.

Instructions for the Friendly Friday Blogging Challenge

Write and publish a post inspired by the prompt, tagging your post Friendly Friday.

Include a ping-back* here and also add a comment below, pointing the way to your own blog post.

*NB. You must ping-back to this WordPress post itself, as ping-backs to the home page of a WordPress blog don’t trigger a notification. That is why a comment here is good practixe so that we can find your post.

This challenge runs for two weeks after which Sandy will post a new prompt over at her blog The Sandy Chronicles.

Further instructions on joining in are found on the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Page.

Kashubian Embroidery

Traditional Tuesday – [A look at traditional Art Forms]

Poland is a country of deeply rooted culture and pursuits, not the least of which, is iconic Polish Folk Art forms, such as a specialist kind of stitching, called Kashuby embroidery. Initially used as a decoration for clothing, particularly folk costumes and women’s caps, these distinctive motifs have been transformed and used to decorate items as diverse as pottery, furniture, tableware and a range of merchandise from lanyards to mouse pads.

Kashubians are a proud people with a separate language, craft and folklore to other Polish areas. Their motto is “There is no Kashubia without Poles and Poland without Kaszubians.”

Product available in Zazzle and Redbubble

Previously considered an activity for Grandmothers, girls of all ages and even men, in Kashubia, enjoy decorating clothing with Kashuby Embroidery.

Colours

Kashubia, [a province in coastal Pomerania], is famous for its distinctive embroidery that consistently features seven main colours.

http://www.wilno.org/culture/embroidery.html

The palette used in Kashuby embroidery utilises seven main thread colours and believe or not, this tends to be strictly observed, i.e. 3 shades of blue, yellow, red, green and brown/black, for it to be called Kashuby Style.

Each of the colors used symbolized something from nature and the people.

BLUE: –

• Dark Blue – represents the profound depth of the Baltic Sea
• Medium or Royal Blue – the colour of the Kashubian Lakes
• Light Blue – for the sky of Kashubia

YELLOW :-

• Light Yellow – representing the sand on the beaches and the sun.
• Medium Yellow for the grains ripening in the fields
• Dark Yellow symbolizing amber, commonly found washed up on the beaches, in these coastal areas.

GREEN :-

• Symbolizes the meadows and plant life
• Indicates the forests teeming with animal life

RED :-

• The use of the colour red indicated the heart and love
• also indicative of the blood of every Kashubian. They are a fiercely patriotic people, and would die to defend their homeland.
• Red also represents poppies in girl’s hairs

BLACK or BROWN :-

• representing sorrow and adversity
• symbolizing the earth in the fields awaiting to be sown seeds.

Motifs

Because of the poverty of the surrounding soil, the Kashubian landscape produces flowers that are stringy, but still colourful. Nature is an important inspiration for floral motifs, especially bell-flowers, lilies, daisies, roses, cornflowers, pomegranates and clovers. Tulips and Acanthus motifs, derived from Christian religious traditions were incorporated as oak or thistle leaves and restricted to embroidery executed by Nuns in the convents.

Adding Beetles and bee motifs to the embroidery stemmed from connections to the ancient pagan traditions of honouring nature.

A lovely element used in Kashuby embroidery is the ‘tree of life.’ Ideally, the branches mustn’t cross or intertwine because it symbolises that life ought to be simple and clear.

In the nineteenth century, fashions changed and traditional folk art patterned outfits began to slowly disappear but some crafts hung on and were printed on to modern merchandise to appeal to tourists.

Formerly, the different style of embroidered costume was related to the particular job the person was doing. Farmers had different motifs and outfits to that seen on fisherman.

In modern times, these outfits are rarely seen outside of special occasions, events or musical performances yet the popularity of the embroidery style, lives on.

More posts on Polish Folk Art

Friendly Friday Challenge – Art Unexpected

Sandy over at The Sandy Chronicles, is hosting this week’s Friendly Friday photo challenge and the theme was so tempting, I had to showcase some of my unexpected artsy photographs.

Art can be cathartic, fun, controversial or just a bit hard to understand.

From a pumpkin photobombing in Japan,

• to the wilds of Australia’s farming communities

The Donkey mail

• Some old photos and some new.

Oops, nearly lost it.

• A Trick of the eye or a slight of hand

What do you think?

• Lastly, our Kiwi cousins have a fun sense of humour. Especially if you are a gardener in Wellington.

Thanks Sandy for a fun prompt. Are you joining in too?

See you here next week for the new Friendly Friday prompt for Something to Ponder About.

A Timeless Norwegian Art

History of Norwegian Rosemaling

Rosemaling is a little known traditional art form unique to Norway and is characterized by stylized flowers and ‘c’ and ‘s’ shaped scrolls, inspired by the Renaissance and Acanthus motifs. It is a regional folk art that is timeless and dynamic.

Traditional Telemark Rosemaling

How did Rosemaling evolve?

From rudimentary beginnings in the woodcarving decorations and religious art of the Middle Ages, Rosemaling first appeared in Norway during the Renaissance and Baroque periods of 1550 –1700.  Early examples, such as stylized plant motifs and acanthus scrolls, can still be seen in the traditional Norwegian churches dating from that era. In addition, regular trading of goods, with other countries in the Hanseatic League, provided the opportunity for East Asian influences to reach the shores of Norway and this provided further inspiration and influence for development of Norwegian folk art.

Bykle church

Wood Carving in Lesja

International trends in religious and modern art were relatively slow to reach the rural areas of Norway, and it was only as church furniture and fittings, (manufactured by the fashion-conscious urban craftsmen), were gradually installed in the country parishes, that new designs and ideas were introduced to the country folk.  Well-to-do farmers and Government officials and the fashion conscious, urban Norwegian elite were more heavily influenced by international trends in decorating and thus Rosemaling was confined mainly to the households and churches in the distant, rural Valleys of Norway.

Bridal Trunk with Acanthus leaf Stylization

In this relative isolation, rural Norwegian folk artists adapted the Renaissance inspired religious motifs and changed it to suit their own purposes. Over time, this folk art developed into an original style that evolved into a new art-form, with individual characteristics pertinent to each Valley. Between 1700 -1850, lavishly painted objects were often seen as status symbols. Therefore, itinerant or local folk artists were in high demand painting Rosemaling designs on cupboards, dressers, bridal trunks, saddles, harness parts, sleighs, and even clocks

Acanthus leaf form in Lom church

The symmetrical designs of acanthus vine elements, so popular in the Renaissance era, were heavily influenced by Rococco trends from Europe, and later adapted by folk artists, finally emerging, in the Telemark region of Norway, as the distinctive ‘C’ curves and ‘S’ scroll forms, of Rosemaling, on an asymmetrical central root.

This is the very popular style that we now identify as Telemark Rosemaling.

Contemporary Telemark Rosemaling by Bjørn Pettersen

As the twentieth century approached, Rosemaling declined in popularity and it was only the political situation in Norway that saved it from complete obscurity.  Once Norway gained its independence, as a nation, there was, amongst the Norwegian public, a groundswell of interest in all things Norwegian, particularly crafts and painting. The revival continued throughout most of the 20th century and ensured Rosemaling had a promising future, both in Norway and in immigrant communities around the world, especially in the United States.

Stave Church in Lom

An opportunity to see the rich heritage of Norway should not be missed. By studying the Rosemaling in the Stave churches, museums and contemporary exhibitions in Norway, a folk artist can, like those painters in centuries past, become inspired to create individual masterpieces and hopefully, their own original style.

History and Art is Something Beautiful to Ponder About

How to Design your Own Artwork – Space

If we are ever to begin to design our own art, we need an understanding of the various elements and principles of design, and how they combine to create an overall pleasing visual effect. So far, in previous posts, we have looked at Line and  Shape, and how they contribute to art forms. This week, we focus on the element of ‘SPACE’ and find how it can assist to create a better design.

Week 3 – Space 

Space as an element of art that refers to the area around objects: either Positive Space: that is areas occupied by an object or form and, Negative Space: the area in, between, around, or within objects. Every positive shape is surrounded by negative space.

You can further divide Negative spaces into: –

  – Passive negative space – this separates visual elements, and includes things like margins and the spacing between letters, words, or lines.

-Active negative space – this draws the viewer’s eye to something, or help viewers focus on the objects that they should see, instead of making their eyes look all over the place.

 

Color Your World – Extending my Palette

Over at Jennifer’s blog she is all about colour.

A daily ‘Color Challenge’ is running until next month. Such a challenge can help with understanding colour, its attributes and nuances, and how it makes us feel. Everyone sees colour differently.

Having a good sense of colour can help us make good choices in home decorating, in how we dress, in art and in how we feel, as colours around us can often affect our moods. Just think how we feel when the skies are dark and grey, as opposed to a sunny morning with a blue sky.

Find your perfect colour combination

There are various colour matching tools on the web, (links below), that can help you find the colour that most matches the one you want for your art/decoration/clothing/craft. You can even upload your own image and analyze the colours there.

Today’s colour is PLUM. A full-bodied colour, often spoken about as if it were a description of a much cherished wine! Here’s why:

Which one is closest to your version of the colour, ‘plum?’

Hand painted egg from Opole

What colours affect your mood?

Colour Matching Tool

Colour Explorer Tool

#cyw or #coloryourworld

Something colourful to ponder about

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WP Photograpy Challenge Monochrome Art Project

Wedgwood and Sons, produce Wedgwood, fine china, porcelain, and luxury accessories. The company was founded on 1 May 1759, by Josiah Wedgwood.

It is not my favourite thing but I do admire the artistry in its production. I used wedgwood and the Moravian designs frrom the Czech Republic for inspiration for this jewellery box.

A simple monochrome palette can look effective on a blue background.

Linking to WordPress Daily Post Photography challenge
Monochromatic<a href="http://Monochromatic“>http://Monochromatic

Acrylic on pine
Pattern Available (free shipping)
Are you a fan of monochrome designs? If so, why?

Something  to Ponder About

Spotlight on Traffic Lights – Traditional Art – July

This month the ‘ Traditional Art’ feature depicts a contemporary phenomenon that has quickly turned to an established tradition in modern, suburban Australia:

Decorated Traffic Signal Control Boxes

A boring, metal-grey ‘signal box’ that controls the traffic lights is just that – boring and sterile. Add a little imagination and a group of unemployed art students and a phenomenon  of community art is born.

   

What is more, tenders for this community art project are called annually, by the municipal council authority. This has evolved to become a fantastic way for struggling artists to earn extra income, or, alternatively, for the councils to engage enthusiastic volunteers in the community.

The variety of designs and local artistic ‘input’ is admirable.  A brightly coloured signal box, of course, is better visually and aesthetically, than the cold, grey metal box. One could even develop a collection of  photos documenting each box  to form a themed picture story of one’s travels!

It might be a little distracting to drivers, when waiting for the traffic lights to change at an intersection, however, it chases away the boredom and keeps one from the temptation of checking the mobile phone!

Some  traffic box murals even tell a story pertinent to the street/area.

Traditional Art Forms – the diversity of themes of the new traditions is –

Something to Ponder About.