Art of the Warli Tribe of

Western India

byDee Camp-White

Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar ParticipantJuly/August 2010

Where do the Warli live?

Important Facts

• For centuries, Warli painted on walls of homes.

• Background is clay or dung over branches.

• Paint is made from ground rice; brush is a chewed bamboo stick.

• Pictures are changed with the seasons, an important family event such as a wedding, or a festival.

Usually the women in the family did the painting. Now men are learning the style.

To earn a living, Warli artists will now come to a home and paint the walls in the Warli style.

Design Features

• Only a triangle, circle, and a square are used.

• • The circle represents

the circle of life.

• The square is an important enclosed space such as a home.

More Basic Design

• A straight line is made with dots or dashes.

• People are made with two triangles, one for the upper body and one for the lower body.

Subjects of a Painting

• Village life: chores, children playing, taking care of animals, cooking, planting, harvesting

• Holidays or festivals: celebrations honoring or thanking a god

• Family events: births, weddings

Examples of Warli PaintingsDo you see:

•Sun and rain—both are needed for crops to grow •Peacocks—very special to Indian people, it is a symbol of good fortune•Large tree-a symbol of the importance of nature •People working together•Tarpa dancers with linked arms

Tarpa Dance

Working on a Farm

People of the Warli tribe are now painting on paper and canvas

Coca-Cola used Warli designs for the Dewali Festival in November 2010!

Painting in the Warli style

This is Vaishali Pathak and her family. Vaishali is an art teacher in Pune (about 100 miles east of Mumbai). She taught herself to draw and paint in the Warli style. To put her own creativity into her designs, she uses bright colors and fabrics. Her younger daughter, Trisha, also loves to draw and paint.

Examples of Vaishali’s Art

The Goddess Durga is celebrated as mother of the Universe. She is the energy of the Supreme Being. She is the power behind the creation, maintenance and destruction of the world.

Trisha is learning to draw from her Mom

In Conclusion

The Warli people share their stories and their art with their children. In this way their culture can be preserved for the next

generation.

We will talk about:

What are some of your families stories? What special skills do your family members have?

What has an older family member taught you, or what would you like to learn?