Moroccan Culture Designs

MOROCCAN ART AND CULTURE

(3. What are the visual, social, and perhaps religious qualities of the design – How are the Design Elements/Principles used?)

Moroccan Carpet

Moroccan Carpet

Moroccan art has a deep commitment to complex designs consisting of geometric, floral, and calligraphic patterns paired with simple, bright, and sometimes whitewashed colors.  This mainly is because the main religion of Morocco is Islam, which forbids the representation of people and animal in art.  Therefore, by using complex patterns and abstraction, they create a different sense of beauty so that the viewer may focus on higher truths than humans and animals.

We can see in this carpet some elements of design, such as the use of patterns, lines, and different colors.  We can also get a sense of the textures through the shapes used.  This carpet also incorporates some principles of design, having a bilateral and symmetrical balance.  It also emphasizes proportion between the different sizes of each shape, but it has a sense of unity as well.  Despite being made up of different shapes and colors, it is all put together in such a unifying way that you see the carpet as a whole, and not as a bunch of shapes put together.

Moroccan Pottery

Moroccan Plate

Morocco is also famous for its beautiful pottery.  Like its carpets, Moroccan pottery has beautiful and astonishing designs made up of bright colors and shapes.  Pottery even varies within the country.  This plate was made in Fes, where pottery has a distinctive blue and white fassi design.  Another well-known city is Safi, where all their pottery is handcrafted with silver overlay.  It doesn’t change, however, that all are made with meaningful designs, styles, symbols and colors.  Although Islamic tradition forbids the drawings of humans and animals, it makes up for it by its designs and colors.  Even in pottery, we can see the floral and calligraphic designs that local potters use.  They are made even more special with the soil used to create the ceramics.  Morocco apparently has different types of soil that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

In this work of art, we can see – again – the very complex, yet beautiful floral patterns that Moroccan art is centered around.  Its radial balance of different shapes creates the form of a flower.  The unity formed by all the elements of design crafts a natural, organic, and realistic artwork of a flower, smoothed out on a ceramic plate.  The colors of the plate show a mixture of green and blue, mixing emotions of spirituality and naturalness, representing the Islamic idea of being able to show “higher truths” without showing humans or animals.

Henna

Henna Design on Hand

Henna comes from crushing the leaves of a henna plant in order to create a dye.  This can be used for hair treatment or, more visually, as dye to make decorative designs on skin.  Henna is not only for design, but also for sacred functions as well.  It is intended to beautify the body and invite good fortune into one’s home, marriage, and family.  Brides often decorate their hands and feed with dark designs in order to ensure good luck and fortune for the soon-to-be married couple.  Pregnant women (specifically around their 17^th month) will have their ankles designed with henna and an amulet to protect the mother and the child through birth.  These henna designs originated from the days of Egypt’s Cleopatra almost 5,000 years ago for decorations, but now have found their way into Moroccan culture with more sacred and spiritual meanings that protect the people’s way of life.

As we can see in this picture, the design isn’t a halfhearted attempt at drawing flowers on a woman’s hand.  The design takes a lot of time and is very articulate and detailed.  We can only imagine how long this must have taken, and the heart and emotion the artist implanted along with the pattern.  Even though there are no bright colors like the pottery and the carpet, the lines and patterns used still create beautiful artwork, which also gives it a sense of unification of the design and the arm.  It feels as though the arm and the design have become one, and the spirituality that the design possesses is also now part of the woman herself.

Moroccan Jewelry

Moroccan Earrings

Moroccan jewelry’s style of art is no different that all of the other handcrafted art of Moroccan culture.  It is still of complex designs that form a beautiful piece of work.  Although gold jewelry is limited to the cities, jewelry in silver is part of all Moroccan culture, both locally and in the cities.  A large portion of the jewelry made is also crafted with stones and enamels, adding color to the silver and more value to its overall worth.  Because everything is handcrafted, each piece of jewelry is made differently, with different patterns and etched designs, making each even more valuable to both the creator and the beholder.

These earrings are the same that is sold as souvenirs at local Moroccan markets throughout the country.  It’s made of pure silver, etched with fine lines and details and finished off with some color from the red beads.  This piece of art is in 3D, which helps to add actual texture out of the circular patterns.  It also has a great deal of balance, that even though the top of the earring is a large circle, it is perfectly balance with the smaller ones dangling on the bottom.

MOROCCAN ART IN TERMS OF AFRICAN ART

African art in general has many meanings behind art.  The Western idea of “art for art’s sake” is not something that translates well to African artists.  All art in Africa has meaning.  Whether it is function, craftsmanship, visibility, emotion, symbolism, or security, African artists create art with a purpose.  We can see in the several examples that all Moroccan art has a purpose as well.

• The carpet has a function of being a carpet.  It serves as decoration, as a carpet, and as a symbol of craftsmanship.  Depending on the number of knots and weaves determines the value and the amount of skill it took to create it.  It’s a symbol of the artist’s skill, and how important and valuable the carpet is.
• The pottery also has a function of being pots and pans and plates necessary for cooking and serving food.  Foreigners may purchase these pots and plates to serve as decorations, but to the locals and Moroccans, they are what they use to serve food, therefore a meaning of life.  They also signify the importance of an event, using different colors and designs for different events.  Using handcrafted plates add to the value of the food itself, making the meal more important and life and energy it gives more important as well.
• Henna has all kinds of symbolic meanings and purposes.  Not only is it used to make the woman’s body more beautiful, it is also used to create good fortune for the family.  Marriages will be successful and babies will be born strong if these markings are on the hands and feet of the woman.  It has the sacred function, and also acts as security for the woman.  It secures the woman and her family with good fortune, and a good future.
• The earrings and jewelry also have meaning in Moroccan art.  They are not hung for display at a museum, but they serve as the symbol for beauty and making the wearer more beautiful.  It also adds value to the human itself, with more jewelry making the person himself (or herself) more valuable.  It is also a symbol for the craftsmanship of the silversmith, who may also incorporate different meanings and symbols into the jewelry itself.

MOROCCAN ART AND WESTERN CULTURE

Although Moroccan art does not have the “art for art’s sake” that Western cultures posses, Morocco itself is starting to take in and absorb some of the European culture, especially the French culture.  We can see some similarities between the Western culture and Moroccan culture when we look at the works of art such as described above.  Much like the carpets, plates, and jewelry in Morocco, people of Western culture also use these things to decorate houses and indeed use carpets and plates for their main function.  Similar to African culture, the West also hold craftsmanship to be important, as we decorate our houses with these carpets because they are valuable, and we only use plates (fine china) like those from Morocco when it is a special occasion, thus increasing the value.  Western culture also consider jewelry to be important, and the more valuable the earring is worn at the time, the more valuable and important that person seems at that time.  Some people of Western culture also have tattoos that resemble designs similar to the Henna’s design, because they want to look good, and also perhaps for a different, symbolic meaning.  Morocco and Western countries may have different cultures and forms of art, but both have similar uses for similar products.  The West does indeed hold the art of Morocco (carpets, pottery, etc.) as being something important and valuable in their lives.  Though the purpose may be different, the value of the art does not change, and that is the similarity that we can see between Morocco and African art and the Western culture.

Sources:

http://www.authenticmorocco.com/moroccan_berber_rug_two.html

http://factoidz.com/the-stylistic-moroccan-art-in-ceramic-pottery/

http://www.hennacaravan.com/hands.html

http://www.moroccan-furniture-decor.com/pd_berber2.cfm

http://www.morocco-travel-agency.com/culture.html

http://char.txa.cornell.edu/nonwest/africa/africahi.htm

Reading Notes

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

POINT

• Forces to seek some kind of relationship or order
• Point of orientation; 2 points = line; 3 points = triangle
• Gestalt
  • Compulsion to connect parts
  • Fundamental tool the designer/artist uses to build coherent composition
  • Concepts
    • Closure: mind supplies missing pieces to complete image
    • Continuity: tendency to “connect the dots” = separate points as part of form
    • Similarity: tendency to group objects of similar shape or color
    • Proximity: group points and objects that are close to one another

LINE

• Psychological impact according to its direction, weight, and their variations = both visual and verbal functions
• Also parts of nature, but can act independently to suggest forms
• Can be combined to create textures and patters –> results in development of FORM and VALUE
• Can be implicit (edges and outlines of forms)

FORM

• Masses and areas defining objects in space; imply space
• 2D = height and weight; 3D = height, width, depth
• Organic: irregular in outline, asymmetrical (naturally occurring) <– not always the case
• Geometric: correspond to named shapes: square, circle, etc. (constructed or made) <– not always the case
• Realistic/Naturalistic: recognize everyday objects and environment
• Abstract: difficult or impossible to identify
  • Objective – derived from actual object
  • Non-objective – based purely on study of form, line, and color = unnatural
• Caricature: realistic images distorted to make statement about portrayed people. place, object
• Perception: affected by:
  • Viewpoint: position will emphasize or obscure features
  • Space around object: distract, alter, focus impression (plain  vs. cluttered background)
  • Lighting: sources of light (value)

MOVEMENT

• Literal – physical fact of movement is part of certain designed objects (e.g. symbolic forms suggesting motion of cars)
  • Before motion pictures = off-balanced positioning, multiple frames of imagery, stop-action, mobiles, dance
• Compositional – how viewer perceives compositions; how components relate and lead viewer’s attention
  • Static: eye “jumps” between similarities from repetition of shapes and contrast of color and value
  • Dynamic: eye flows smoothly guided by continuation of line and form, and gradation of color and form

COLOR

• Value: relative lightness or darkness of color
  • Contrast of value separates objects in space
  • Gradation of value suggest mass and contour of contiguous surface
• If value is…
  • close = shapes will flatten out, seem closely connected in space, none stands out from others
  • contrast = shapes will separate in space, some will stand out from others
• Hue – pure spectrum colors (has value) = colors of the rainbow
  • Painters Primaries – red, blue yellow
  • Printers Primaries – magenta, cyan, yellow
  • Light Primaries – red, blue, green (additive mixture)
  • Desaturated = reduced in purity/weakness
    • Tine = white
    • Shade = black
    • Tone = gray
• Complements: colors that are opposite one another on hue circle
• Afterimage: physical opposite generated by eye
• Illusions:
  • Color proportions = relative quantity to change feeling of the composition, even appearance
  • Simultaneous contrast = color appears to change when seen against different background
  • Optical mixture = small particles of different colors are mixed in the eye

COLOR PSYCHOLOGY

• Red
  • Positive: blood, energy, excitement, passion, erotic
  • Negative: aggressive feelings, anger, violence
• Orange
  • Positive:flesh, warmth (friendly), approachability, informality
  • Negative: lack of discrimination and quality
• Yellow
  • Positive: sunshine, optimism, upbeat, modern
  • Negative: overwhelming energy
• Green
  • Positive: nature, life, stability, restfulness, naturalness
  • Negative: decay, toxicity, artificiality
• Blue
  • Positive: coolness, distance, spirituality, reserved elegance
  • Negative: sadness, passivity, alienation, depression
• Violet
  • Positive: fantasy, playfulness, impulsiveness, dream
  • Negative: nightmare, madness

PATTERN

• Underlying structure that organizes surfaces or structures in a consistent, regular manner = repetition or skeleton
• Flow: follows paths of least resistance (water, stone, growth of trees)
• Branching: patterning in plant world (geological –> river deltas, crystalline formations)
• Spiral: galaxies, “fiddlehead” buds of ferns, forms of microscopic animals
• Packing and Cracking: compacted cells define each others space (mushroom cluster, deformed bubbles)

TEXTURE

• Quality of of an object which we sense through touch
• Bristly, Rough and Hard; Smooth, Cold, and Hard; Smooth, Soft, and/or Warm; Wet or Dry
• Creation of illusion of texture is important as well

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

BALANCE

• Visual Equilibrium
  • Symmetrical
    • Equal weight, “formal balance”
      • Bilateral – equal on either side of central axis
      • Radial – equal around a central point
    • Approximate, “informal balance”
      • objects of varying visual weights balancing one another around a fulcrum point
        • 1 large vs. lots of small

PROPORTION

• Relationship between objects of a whole
• Universal standard = human body (16th/17th Century – body was bigger and heavier)
• Architectural = spaces intended to impress usually dwarfs viewers (private homes – much larger)
• Distortions of proportions can represent different aspects of subject

RHYTHM

• Timed movement through space – creates predictability
• Linear Rhythm: characteristic flow of individual line (dependent on timed movement of viewer’s eyes)
• Repetition: use of patterns to achieve visual “beat”
• Alternation: patterns create repeating motifs (short/long, fast/thin, round/square, dark/light)
• Gradation: motifs patterned to relate to one another through regular progression of steps (event sequence)

EMPHASIS

• Point of focus, interruption – strongly draw viewer’s attention – break in rhythm
• Repetition – calls attention to repeated elements through force of numbers
• Contrast
  • set point of emphasis apart from rest of background, use of neutral background
  • color, texture, or shape/size or scale/detail (prolonged visual involvement through intricacy)
• Positioning – strategic positioning

UNITY

• Summarization, coherence of whole
• Pattern: underlying structure – most fundamental element for strong sense of unity
• Consistency: form and color
• Variety: common quality/meaning in style (fashion of the same time period)
• Concept: purpose of object unifies the design

PURPOSES OF ART

RELIGIOUS RITUAL

• Oldest purpose, art has served religion for centuries
• Church was primary patron of artists

COMMEMORATION OF IMPORTANT EVENT

• Historical event, or of individual (wedding, baptism)

PROPAGANDA/SOCIAL COMMENTARY

• Propaganda: persuade towards certain viewpoint (Rosie the riveter)
• Social Commentary: more aware of human condition as perceived

RECORDING OF VISUAL DATA

• Telling “truth” as seen

CREATING BEAUTY

• Eye-pleasing, although beauty is debatable

STORYTELLING

• Sequence of panels
• Subtle stores of ordinary people in just one picture

INTENSE EMOTION

• Facial expression and body language
• Dramatic or exaggerated color, light, and form

INTERPRETATION

• Subject matter at hand
• Human nature, human condition, nature, events capture artists’ attention