Plants in Decorative Art Practices- A Journey through time
Project Brief
Plant motifs have been used in many places for many centuries as a part of decorative art. The use of a flower or plant can be inspired by spaces like religion, geography, medicinal use, historical significance, etc. The project marks an event that uses floral/plant motifs in decorative art practices and the reason behind it. It engages with various events in with plants in decorative art became significant as a practice.
Objective
The objective of the inquiry is to create a timeline that explores various disciplines to gain an understanding of the plant and its decorative use. My representation of this timeline is through paper quilling a flower on a postcard that can best represent an event. It’s my way of creatively exploring the flower and learning about it.
Process
Decorative Art to me:
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Adding extra to useful to make it beautiful.
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Pleasure
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Celebration
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Form of Expression
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Ornaments/Figures created aesthetically
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All art is a decoration but all decoration is not always for artist purpose
Botanical Art
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Representation of plants
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Used as decorative art
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To archive the identity of plants
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To learn medicinal purpose of plants
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To connect to nature
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The ones used for decorative purpose can be termed as "Plant Portraits"
A list of Events on the timeline that I am exploring:
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Vedic Period
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Maurya Empire
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Parmeshwara Temple
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Delhi Sultane
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Mughal Period
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Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta
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Rooh Afza packaging created in India
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Arts and Crafts movement
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Textile and Ornamental Art of India, an exhibition at MOMA
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The state Botanical Garden in Odisha
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Ritu Kumar promoting Block Printing
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Plants in Indian Temples Art by Shakti Gupta
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Good Earth
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Floral Plants of India by Henry Wilson
Mode of Representation:
As and artist and designer, I always look for various creative ways to put my research in a form. Paper quilling was something that I used to practice a lot as kid but it slowly faded aways from me. I though this project would be a great opportunity for me to get back in touch with this craft and give a unique representation to my work. Working on creating the flower motifs with paper quilling was challenging and engaging at the same time. It kept me excited enough to work more towards the project.
Output
The Vedic Period- Job’s Tears
The Atharvaveda mentions various plants that were used as ornaments and cosmetics in the Vedic times. The most commonly used was the Job’s tears also known as the Coix-lacryma flower. The beads were used in bead ornamental decoration. Remains of Job’s tears have been found in archaeological sites in north eastern India which confirms their use as ornaments.
The Mughal Period- Poppy
It was said that traditionally Islamic art should not depict any living creature. And thus, the flora world was an inspiration on to many art and decoration subjects. A reddish-brown heavy-scented addictive drug prepared from the juice of the opium poppy used illicitly as a narcotic and occasionally in medicine as an analgesic. The Mughal emperors used opium regularly and that’s the reason why you will find the poppy flower in maximum Mughal art.
Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta- Night Jasmine
Robert Kyde who had no prior scientific knowledge observed that the East India Company did not do much for the development of Bengal. Thus, he proposed the formal establishment of the Royal Botanical Garden in Calcutta. The garden was built not only for collecting various plants and trees but also to archive studies of various scientific c and medicinal plants. The garden contained all kinds of flowers, plants, and trees. The very first royal garden was set up in Calcutta in India, which is the reason for me to represent this event by assigning it with the Night Jasmine flower which is the state flower of West Bengal.
Floral patterns of India by Henry Wilson- Lotus
Henry Wilson is a well-known photographer known for his work on Floral Patterns in India. A book that describes in detail the flower motifs used in Indian architecture and decorative art. He has photographed and transformed them into his beautiful graphic designs. The book explores various art and decorative crafts in India where the use of floral motifs is significant. I chose the lotus to represent the event of Henry Wilson’s book being published on Indian floral patterns as the lotus represents India in the floral world with the message of purity and detachment.
Good Earth- Bosporus Rose
Anita Lal, the founder of Good Earth says that her fondness for flowers and nature has always been reflected in the design of Good Earth products. Her childhood in which her mother used to engage with various kinds of flowers, shaped her attachment to nature. Good Earth celebrates 25 years with the Bosporus rose collection. The Bosporus design collect on marks the beginning of a new journey in the design legacy of Good Earth. This idea of an imagined land and secret gardens that only exist in our imaginations, and yet feel impossibly real, is central to the Bosporus collection.